


Best Summer Ever

by tonks42



Series: Camp Cardigan [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Complete, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-26
Updated: 2013-01-18
Packaged: 2017-11-22 11:22:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 57,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/609282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonks42/pseuds/tonks42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU Klaine. During the summer between his junior and senior years, Kurt returns to camp as a Junior Counselor. His plans for having his best summer ever change when Kurt becomes a friend and mentor to a hurting new guy, Blaine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I took a deep breath of fresh, mountain air and sighed. Home. This place would always and forever feel like home in a way that Lima, OH never had.

Camp Cardigan for Boys in New Hampshire has always been my refuge. This whole school year had just sucked. We’d been out of school for two weeks now, and the bruises had mostly faded from my back, remnants of all the locker checks. The nasty words would take longer to fade from my mind.

Being here would help though. Camp is my favorite place in the entire world. My mother and grandmother had gone to the sister camp around the lakeshore long ago (aptly named Camp Cardigan for Girls). My uncle and grandfather had gone here. Hell, my grandparents loved to tell the tale of how they’d fallen in love working as counselors at the camps during college. So the summer after I turned eight, the summer after my mother had died, my grandparents started to pay for me to spend seven weeks each year in this patch of wilderness.

They’d convinced my father that it would be good for me. I’m still not sure how he let me go that first summer, but somehow dear old grandma had convinced Dad that I needed time away from being sad. I’d been hesitant myself. I mean, camp. Surrounded by loud, rowdy boys? Surrounded by dirt and bugs? Plus, after we’d lost Mom, I was feeling rather clingy, too. Still, I think Grandma had been right. It had been a relief to be able to escape. To not have to think about the loss all the time. To not watch my dad cry at night and try to figure out how in the world I was supposed to help him.

I walked over to the porch of the dining hall, leaning over to take a look across the lake at the White Mountains behind, letting the stress and tension of the real world start to drain out of me. I’d flown from Ohio into the Manchester airport that afternoon, but it had been a long drive after the assistant director had picked me up. The wonderfulness was worth it though, just reacquainting myself with trees and green and mountains.

My friends from high school would probably be amazed to see me during the summer. During the school year, I spent hours on skin care and hairdos. I picked my outfits out with an extraordinary amount of care. They probably thought I was allergic to nature. And that was one side of me. But this was me, too.

This me gets crazy tan lines on his feet from running around in Chaco sandals instead of knee high Doc Martins. This me wears more sunscreen and bug spray than any other product (though moisturizer and good conditioner are still key). This me has even been known to jump into the lake fully clothed once or twice.

“Kurt!”

I turned at the sound of my name being called out, flinching reflexively before I see who’s calling me. It wasn't one of the bullies from my junior year. Not here. Here it’s Sam, with his blond, All-American good looks. Sam’s been in my bunk since we both started here at eight. Somehow we managed to stay together every year, and when he wraps me in a quick, tight hug, it feels so good. So right.

“Please tell me you just got here. Because if you’ve been here long and didn’t come looking for me…” Sam let the threat trail off with a grin as he stepped back.

“We’re all so scared. Just plain terrified of those threats, Sammy-boy," the dark haired boy noted beside him, before I’m pulled in for a second quick hug of greeting.

“Mike. It’s good to see you at least!” I told him, with a teasing look over towards Sam before I broke into laughter at his joking pout. “We just pulled in not five minutes ago. It’s _so_ good to be here. And to see both of you.”

I paused for a moment as I looked back towards the old camp station wagon I’d been picked up from the airport in. “After all, I could use someone to help carry my trunk.”

“You just want us for our muscles. Soon I’ll start feeling like a pack mule.” Sam noted, even as both of them started toward the luggage with me. “Junior counselors, man! I’m so excited for this summer. No more lowly camper days for us. And we start the summer in the leadership bunk. So no middle of the night puke-ers to deal with yet either. Best of both worlds!”

I shook my head and let him continue to ramble on as we collected my stuff. I had my trunk of course, but then there was also a duffel bag with my bedding and toiletries. Thankfully it had wheels, so I could manage that with my backpack as Sam and Mike shared the weight of the trunk between them. “JCs. Finally. What program areas did you two get approved for?” I asked over as I swung my backpack up into place.

“Lacrosse and the climbing wall.” Mike stated. Short and to the point was much more Mike’s thing than the rambling on and on Sam could get up to.

“I’ve got Swimming and Basketball.” Sam added looking over as we head across the grassy quad the cabins are lined up around to a large, two story cabin on the end. Leadership bunk, where the Junior Counselors (us) and the Counselors in Training (who we were last year) lived. “We’ve got second floor this year. I’m looking forward to getting a breeze.” Sam said as we pushed open the screen door, heading for the stairs. “What areas do you have?”

“I’ve got Archery and Canoe/Kayak. So we’ll be seeing a good chunk of each other in lifeguard training, Sam.” Each JC had to choose two activity areas to specialize in. Areas that we thought we might want to teach when, and if, we finally got to become full counselors next year. Before we even arrived on camp, we had to interview with the directors for approval to become JCs and to get our chosen program areas approved. After all, not everyone could do, say, archery. I was lucky enough to get both my first choices.

“Please tell me there’s a bottom bunk left. Or better yet, a single. I’m not sleeping on top of either of you.” I noted as we pushed through a wooden door painted a dark green and into the big open room all the JCs would share.

“Kinky, Hummel. Maybe one of us wants you on top.” Sam teased with a waggle of his eyebrows. I replied with some crude single-digit sign language as I yanked my bag of bedding over towards a single cot in the corner.

“My lucky day.” I claimed this one with my trunk at the foot and my sheets on the cot mattress. Then I’d try to once again get used to the fact that teasing here meant a joke. It’d been the same adjustment last summer.

Our final summer as campers, two years ago now, I’d come out to my cabin here. Sam and Mike were the first people I told. Ever. I wasn’t even out to my dad until after I was out at camp. Not that they hadn’t suspected. I don’t think there’s anyone anywhere in my life that really knows me that I could ever successfully hide my sexuality from, even if I wanted to.

The boys here were mostly from New York City, like Mike, and Boston. Then there’s a good chunk, like Sam, from sunny California. All of those places were different worlds from Lima. One of those kinds of places will be my home as soon as I graduate High School.

At school, the teasing isn’t friendly. It’s not the kind where you give back as good as you get because it’s all playful and puppy-like. At school, it’s bullying. I’d long since lost count of the number of times I’ve been called a fag or a homo. But not one of them have been here. I just had to remember that. I had to let that sink in again. I’d always been teased at school, from the start of middle school on, but it got worse after I came out to my friends in Ohio sophomore year. And worse again this last year. But that was over. With a few days of training before the campers came, I’d have almost eight glorious weeks to just be myself here.

The low tolling of a bell brought me out of my reverie. “Dinner!” Sam’s enthusiasm over such a simple thing brought a grin to my face. I tucked the edge of my blanket in neatly to pass any inspection and straightened up.

“Lead on. Do you know what they’re making tonight? God, I hope it’s not meatloaf.” With one last look around at the wooden walls, I followed my friends out across the quad, retracing our steps from earlier. This time, though, it was to a cloud of greetings from returning counselors and claps on the shoulder that weren’t meant to push me over.

“Kurt! You made it. Did these two show you where the JCs are staying this year?” Wes left the side of one of his fellow group leaders to angle over towards us. “I’m in charge of the CITs and JCs again this year, so search me out when you need me, alright?”

I had to bite my lower lip to stifle a laugh as I looked back to see Mike mimicking Wes’s rather officious attitude as Wes walked back away to his friend David’s side.

The laughter I had been stifling came out in a full force assault as soon as Wes was a safe distance away. Sam pulled me back upright with an arm tossed casually over both Mike and my shoulders as he steered us into the dining hall. “Best summer ever starts right now, guys.”

* * *

That bell was tolling way too early in the morning for my liking. Come on. Who really needs to be woken up by some director ringing a crazy loud bell? It seemed like at least half the JC group agreed with me, what with the amount of groans I could hear and the way I could see Mike in the next bunk over pulling his pillow over his face.

“If I go to breakfast in my PJ’s, can I get five extra minutes?” Mike mumbled into his pillow as I sat up, stretching my arms up over my head before I yanked them quickly back down under my covers.

A look out the window by my bed showed that the sun was indeed shining on the morning, but damn, it was cold in here. “I think never having to come out from under these covers is a better plan.” I darted a hand out of the blankets again to pull the window above my bed closed the inch or so it was open. “What were we thinking leaving that cracked at night?”

“Guess we were forgetting that we’re in New Hampshire. In June. We’re lucky we’re not popsicles right now.” Mike added finally pulling the pillow off his face before he smirked over at me. “At least I don’t have to start lifeguard training in the lake this afternoon. You and Sam are such suckers.” And with that, he was out of bed, darting to his trunk to pull on a warm hoodie.

A quick shot across the room to warm clothes sounded like a plan, since I probably really couldn’t just spend the whole day in my bunk. “Hopefully the water in the lake will warm up by then?” I suggested as I tried crawling down to the end of my bed with my blankets still tucked firmly around me. From there maybe I could lean over the trunk and open it? No go. At least I’d remembered to sleep in socks so my feet weren’t directly on the cold floor.

“How many summers have you spent here? Does the water _ever_ warm up? Even by August?” Mike shoved a hand through his hair looking down at his Star Wars pajama pants. “Think I can get away with these?”

“I have returned! Did you miss me?” Of course Sam had to make a loud, crashing entrance. Of course. Well, maybe it would at least serve to get the last couple of guys out of their beds. I turned, halfway through pulling up a pair of black and grey plaid skinny jeans to stare over at him. There went the conversation with Mike.

“You were gone?” I teased over as I dug quickly in my trunk to pull out a warm, grey henley, pulling the form fitting shirt on. “Running before the wake up bell already? You’ve only been here a day. Plus, there’s no time to shower before breakfast.” I pointed out with a wrinkled nose. Camp only went so far in my book as a no shower excuse. Apparently Sam thought differently.

“I meant to leave even earlier. But hey, it’s camp. I’ll just put on a thicker coat of deodorant. We’ll be jumping in the lake this afternoon anyway. That’s as good as a shower.” Sam noted as he headed over to his own trunk, tucked at the side of the bunk bed he was sharing with Mike. True to his word, he stuck to an extra layer of deodorant before pulling a hoodie on right over his sweaty workout clothes.

“Just don’t expect me to sit next to you at breakfast.” I tossed back before turning my gaze towards the suddenly quieter Mike. “Yeah, those jeans are probably a better decision.” I noted returning to our earlier conversation as I sat to pull my Chacos on my feet after only a moment’s hesitation. I could live with cold feet and comfort this morning. “Wouldn’t want to piss off Schue on your first full day as a junior counselor. Which means we should probably be getting to flag raising. Good impressions and all that. Plus, the sooner the flag is up, the sooner I get coffee.” I noted, grabbing a sweater to tug on over my other layers as I slipped through the wooden door, trusting they’d follow out into the cold mountain morning.

 

* * *

 

My crack of dawn discussion with Mike had been right. The lake was _freezing_. Actually, ice wouldn’t be cold enough to describe how this water felt to my sensitive skin. We’d been in the lake for far too long now, and I still wasn’t used to it.

The morning had been given up to JC orientation with Wes. If I had to listen to one more line from that handbook, I think I’d start screaming. I swear that thing is the new love of Wes’ life. The afternoon was given over to training in the areas we’d be teaching. For everyone on the waterfront, that meant lifeguard training. In the freezing cold lake. Where we’d be spending half our day until the end of the first week of camp to finish this stupid certificate. At least some of it would be book learning other days. Mike was lucky enough to miss out on that to get trained in belaying instead. Lucky, lucky man.

Today we started with the swim test. Freaking Sam dove into the water and swam the 300 meters like it was nothing. The California boy even had a tan already, and seriously, why did both my straight best friends here have to have such good abs for high school boys? It’s not fair. Not that anyone was going to see mine, or my lack thereof. Skin cancer will not be in my future. Besides layers of sunscreen, I fully believed in UV protective rash guards. Plus, they had the added benefit of covering the fading green and yellow of healing bruises across my back. I don’t need comments on those from every passing counselor.

I may not have owned my testing the way Sam did, but I passed. There’s something to be said for long hours dancing in Glee club and time on the treadmill.

Back to the present, I really was starting to think my teeth were going to chatter off when Sam swam up alongside me. “David says we’re done. Race you to the towels?” There was a cheeky grin on Sam’s face at that, so of course I had to agree.

I dashed across the sand at the edge of the lake, darting for the bench were we’d left our towels, managing to get a foot ahead of Sam. “Haha!” I called back, grabbing mine first to frantically rub at my hair.

My hair must have been sticking up twelve different ways from the toweling when I heard the voice of Schue, Will Schuester, our director, coming closer. “This is the swimming side of the waterfront area. Beyond the beach, we have docks for the use of our swim classes and for free swim periods.” Oh great. Schue’s leading a tour. Maybe I can hide over here, blend in with the trees?

“Kurt! Sam! Good to see you two.” No such luck. I guess wearing blue striped boardshorts with a white rashguard made one quite unlikely to blend in with trees. I might have to invest in some camo colored ones. I looked up and over towards Schue only to feel my heart drop to my knees. No more crushes on straight boys, I reminded myself. I wasn’t doing that this summer.

But damn, this boy was worthy of it. Dark hair gelled down, boy next door good looks, and a wounded look in a beautiful pair of hazel eyes. But damn it, I wasn’t going to do this again. Especially when I was standing there dripping all over the place like a drowned rat. I’m sure his first impression of me right now was far from fetching.

“…my office after dinner, Kurt.” Mr. Schue finished, bringing me out of my thoughts. Hopefully I hadn’t missed anything too important. The director turned leading the nervous looking kid off towards the sports fields, continuing the tour. It was only as they turned away that I noticed the cast on the teen’s arm, covering it from above his elbow to his hand. How I could have missed it I don’t know, because it was super bright, fire engine red. Maybe it had something to do with the eyes. No. Not thinking about that.

“Who was that?” I asked Sam, going back to applying the towel to my hopefully not blue and frozen body.

“Must be the new CIT.” Sam replied rather too nonchalantly for my taste.

“What do you mean new CIT? There are never new kids in the oldest age groups or leadership cabin. Never.” I shook my head. But really, he was too old to be a middle schooler, and the new kid definitely couldn’t have passed for college age like any new counselors had to be.

“You didn’t hear about it at lunch? It was all the buzz around my table. But then, you were still refusing to sit by me on grounds I stank.” Sam pointed out with a teasing tone, sliding his feet into his flipflops.

I wrapped the towel tighter around myself, shoving on my own pair as we headed back to the cabin for dry clothes. “You did. You were still wearing those sweaty running clothes! No way was I letting that ruin my appetite. What did I miss?”

“Apparently new kid’s dad knows Schue. Convinced him to take the guy, B-something, I forget what, for the summer.” Sam leaned in a little closer, as if he was about to convey the world’s greatest secret. “I heard he’s Cooper’s little brother. Remember him? Crazy counselor when we were kids? Wonder why it took this long for the guy to start here.”

Mysteries upon mysteries. Or at least they would be in our isolated little community. These guys were great about so many things, but avoiding gossip wasn’t one of them. I could swear that sometimes they resembled a sewing circle of old ladies. “Huh. Well, he looked nice enough. Doubt we’ll be seeing him around the lake anytime soon with that cast.”

“True, true. So, what do you think Schue’s going to want to talk to you about tonight?” I’d almost forgotten about that parting remark. I couldn’t have done anything to get myself in trouble already, could I?


	2. Chapter 2

After a shower, I’d slipped back into the henley and plaid pants from that morning, so even though my hair was still drying, I felt rather more like myself than when I ran into Schue as I came out of the lake. I’d even stopped shivering somewhere around the middle of my hot shower.

After dinner, I peeled off of the group of counselors that had lured me over to their table to eat dinner with them. Something about the promise of serenading the camp with a random song at the end of the meal. It was awesome, since we ended up deciding to do the number ‘bad American Idol audition’ style. We ended up with the whole dining hall of staff and JCs cracking up and threatening to throw food at us.

I headed off towards the camp office, the opposite direction from the general tide of people leaving the dining hall. After a few friendly slaps on the shoulder in congratulations of a purposely not-so-great performance, I had to stop partway there for a deep breath. Or a dozen. It had only been a day. Just over twenty-four hours since my arrival wasn’t enough time to stop the gut reaction of nine months of touches to the shoulder meaning shoves to the locker or the hard tile floor.

I closed my eyes, listening to the chirping of the birds and the rustle of the breeze through the trees as I centered myself. I wasn’t facing Schue until I knew I had control of myself. Once that was re-established, I moved on, making my way around the side of the building.

 “Kurt! You made good time,” Schue called over to me from the porch. He and the new kid were sitting in a pair of Adirondack chairs there, facing out towards the sport fields. At least he didn’t look pissed at me. I’ll admit that most of the times I’ve been summoned to the office have been because of some stupid prank I’d been convinced to help pull.

“That’s me. Nothing if not punctual,” I responded lightly moving to lean against the porch railing, facing Schue and the CIT. I gave the teen a curious look, but he seemingly had nothing to add to Schue’s enthusiastic greeting. If anything, he’d shrunk back farther into the big chair, casted arm propped on one green arm rest, looking anywhere but at me. Not a good sign for someone who was going to be living with a whole group of guys, if he couldn’t even look at one. Was he just really shy?

“Blaine, will you be okay here if I take Kurt inside to talk?” Schue asked the kid, Blaine. I watched Blaine for his reaction, keeping an easy, relaxed smile on my face.

Blaine blinked out of whatever world he’d been spacing out into as he looked over towards Schue with a nod, then at me with a look that seemed both way too wary for camp and finally a bit curious. “Sure. I’ll just, uh, enjoy the fresh air.”

I shot Blaine a quick smile I hoped was reassuring for the nervous tone to his voice before I looked towards Schue attempting to relax the kid a bit. “You probably don’t want to witness whatever this is. I swear, Schue, whatever happened, I didn’t do it! Only been here twenty-four hours. Blame Sam.” Unfortunately, this seemed to backfire with Blaine judging from the way he closed down even more, pulling his legs in defensively. Damn.

Schue winced at that look from Blaine, shaking his head toward me with a smile reappearing as he led the way inside. “You’re not in trouble. Unless there’s something I don’t know about?”

I followed him with a smirk through the main office area and into his personal office at the back. It was really as far from the porch as we could get, so I raised my eyebrows over towards Schue as he closed the door, another sound barrier. “Is this something about that new kid, Blaine, then? Because it sure seems like you don’t want him to hear us talking.”

“Too smart as usual. Yes. I wanted to ask a big favor of you actually,” Schue noted, moving to sit on the corner of his desk, gesturing me towards the raggedy chair across from it.

I sank down into the chair as I considered that. “No such thing as too smart. But a favor that involves him? Does it have to do with the jumpiness and that rather haunted look he’s got?” See? I could take that too smart thing one step farther.

“Yes and yes. I’m not going to go into any details because, one, I don’t know all of them, and, two, it’s his personal story anyway. Let’s just say Blaine’s had a hard time of it lately. He could use some friendly faces. That’s why I told his father I’d take him this summer.” Schue paused for just a second to pick up something to fiddle with, a stress ball. “His dad was my counselor way back when I was a camper here. I owe him. Plus, his brother Cooper was rather memorable in his years here.”

But if his dad and brother went here, why didn’t Blaine? I didn’t ask that though, instead deciding to go with, “So you want me to be his friend?”

“You know how we assign all the new campers a camp big brother? Someone to send letters to before camp and have a familiar person to sit with at meals and things while they settle in? I was hoping you’d be Blaine’s camp big brother.” Schue stayed perched on the edge of his desk, throwing the stress ball up into the air over and over.

“Why me? I’d be happy to take the role, but you could have chosen anyone from the camp. One of the counselors even. Finn maybe. He’d take a new guy under his wing. Why choose me?”

“You’re close in age,” Schue pointed out. “But not a CIT with him. And, well, I know you don’t really talk about it here much, but I know that things haven’t always been the easiest for you back home. But yet, here you are. Everyone knows you and most even like you. You’re confident enough to get up and ruin a song in the dining hall and popular enough for a group of guys to ask you to help them do it. You’ve carved out a place here for yourself, and you’re one of the best of your JC group. Plus, you’re both from Ohio.”

A blush had definitely covered my face at all of that. I’m not really all that comfortable with praise. “He’s from Ohio, too?” I asked, moving towards the safest part of that whole little speech Schue gave. “So I’m officially his camp big brother. I’ll take the job. What do you want me to do next? Has he moved in?” How could I say no when it sounded like Blaine needed this place to be a safe haven as much as I did?

“He is. From the Columbus area.” Schue tossed the stress ball over into a basket next to him, standing up. “Getting him settled in sounds like a good place to start. I had his stuff dropped off at the cabin, since he can’t very well carry his own trunk with that arm. The rest of the CITs don’t get here until tomorrow. I thought it’d do him good to see the place early. Maybe grab a couple guys and have a sleep over in their room? Mike, and maybe Sam? Tomorrow he can shadow you, at least in the morning. We’ll figure it out from there.”

Apparently the conversation was over at that point, because Schue was opening the door and heading out. I scrambled to my feet to follow the director back through the office to the porch.

Blaine was right where we’d left him, and he shot us a curious look when we came out. A good sign that he wasn’t totally spaced out again, I suppose.

“So, Blaine. Remember how I told you about the big brother thing we do? Kurt has agreed to be yours. I have a feeling two of you will get along well. Besides, he’s even from Ohio. How much better could you relate?” Schue sounded so enthusiastic that I couldn’t help but roll my eyes behind his back. I did however manage to keep on the friendly, non-threatening smile rather than the smirky, bitch look Schue occasionally inspired me to.

“Apparently all us Ohio folk have to stick together,” I said with a quite fake hick-like drawl to my voice before I moved towards the porch step. “Come on. I’ll show you your new home away from home. I promise I don’t bite.”

Blaine stood, pushing himself up out of the Adirondack chair with his good arm. The bright red cast was held close to his body, protectively, as he looked me over and just nodded. “Alright. I suppose I have to, uh, branch out sooner or later.” He moved to follow me, keeping more than a casual distance between the two of us.

Shit. I couldn’t make the kid more terrified in all of this. And somehow, he just had that kid feeling to him right now, despite only being a year younger. I really had to find a way to to get over thinking of him like that or I’d feel like a pedophile every time I thought about how cute he is.

“Did Schue tell you about leadership cabin? The CITs, i.e. you, are living on the bottom floor this year. I’m a JC, junior counselor, so I’m just upstairs.” I made sure not to crowd his space as I led him across the quad. “You’ll get first choice of beds at least, being here early.”

“Do you have any recommendations on a good one? Bed, I mean?” Blaine asked, shooting quick glances over at me. “That was, um, some performance earlier.” He just sounded so tentative. Hopefully that would pass before it drove me up the freaking wall. For tonight, it was just sort of endearing. Like he needed to be wrapped up in a sleeping bag and protected.

“I always recommend a single, if there are any. Bottom bunk if not. Climbing onto a top bunk is annoying if you have to get up and pee in the middle of the night. Probably wouldn’t be the easiest with that cast, either,” I pointed out, not pushing yet to ask how his arm had ended up broken. I figured that it had something to do with Schue’s reference to having a tough time. “And thanks. That’s one of the great things about being here. Quirky and silly are seen as positive traits. I really can sing, but it was more fun that way.”

I pushed open the door to the leadership cabin, ushering Blaine inside. “And here’s your quick tour. JC’s are up the stairwell. The first door to the left is Wes’s room. He’s our Group Leader, in charge of keeping us all in line. Takes it pretty seriously, but he’s a good guy. Next door past that is the bathroom. It's shared by the JCs and CITs, but there are stalls and everything. Our showers are actually the best in camp. Sometimes the counselors will sneak in on their breaks to use them.”

I walked over to open a wooden door, much like ours upstairs. “And here, kind sir, is your new abode.” I grinned over, waving him in like a butler in a fairy tale. “Let’s get you settled in and introduced around.”

* * *

I could see Blaine shooting me nervous glances as I helped him get his things unpacked and settled. Since most of his things would stay in his trunk, that was easier than it sounds.

Seriously, did I really look that scary? Alright, I needed something to break this tension. I pulled his sheets out of his duffel bag, knowing it wouldn’t be the easiest thing to get a bed made one-handed.

Glancing around the room I gave his trunk a look over. The thing looked brand spanking new. It was a far cry from the battered and much abused ones in the JC room upstairs. After all, most of us had been living out of the things every summer for at least six or seven years now.

“So is this your first time at a camp?” I asked, ignoring the way Blaine jumped. At least he was turning to look at me now, instead of staring out over the empty room.

“At a camp like this? Yeah,” Blaine answered, moving over to sink down to sit on top of that new-looking trunk. “I spent part of last summer at Kent State at a theater camp, but that was quite different. I mean, we lived in the dorms, for one thing. Otherwise, I’ve usually spent the summer at home busy with community theater productions.” He looked across at me with those clear nerves, as if he thought **I** would disapprove of such things. Really?

“If I could imagine spending the summer anywhere but here, I imagine that would be a really great way to spend it.” I watched Blaine visibly relax at that, grinning over towards him. “Loosen up. We’re not all scary jock types here. And even the jock types? Really not that scary. Well maybe Puckerman, but it’s all an act with that one.”

The smile Blaine gave me? It was an actual, real one. Maybe we could get him settled here after all, if he was opening up and chilling out a bit already. “I guess I just assumed I wouldn’t have much in common with all of you,” Blaine admitted with a shy smile over. “Not the way my dad and brother talk about this place. I figured you would all be like Coop.”

“Stereotypes will get you nowhere in life,” I pointed out as I spread his blanket over the bed, moving to tuck it in around the edges. “I remember Cooper. He was a counselor here my first few years. You remember the camp big brothers thing? Well my big brother, er camp brother, Finn was in Cooper’s cabin several years in a row. Honestly, yes, we’ve got a few guys who are that over the top. Most of us aren’t. Despite that little performance you saw after dinner.”

“That was…. really something,” Blaine offered back to me with a quick grin for the little mock bow I took at that sort-of compliment before he turned serious again. “I don’t know if I can do this. Look around this room. Ten more beds. And they’re all going to have known each other for years, right? I’ll just spend the next seven weeks blending into the woodwork, and I can’t even _do_  most of the activities.” Blaine gave his cast a sneer then stared down at the floor.

I propped his pillow into place and walked over to perch on the edge of the bunk bed across from Blaine’s, not wanting to invade his personal space too much. It gave me time to think of what to say, at least. I didn’t want to screw this up and have him shut right back down. “Yes, they’ve pretty much all known each other since they were eight or ten. No disguising that. But I know these guys.Really, I’ve grown up together with them. There are some going to be some great people moving into this room tomorrow. Ever think that maybe they’ll be happy to have some new blood in the mix? Plus, we might not really _ever_ get new CITs and JCs, but we do get new counselors every year. Worst comes to worst? Make friends with some of them. They’re not _that_ much older. The new international staff are pretty much guaranteed to be even more out of their element than you are.”

“I could do that.” Blaine looked me over again for a moment before he reached up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly with his good hand. “You’re not what I expected. I’ll admit I was really worried when Schue told me he wanted you to be this mentor thing for me.”

“What did you expect?” I couldn’t resist asking, trying to keep as much of the smirky bitch from my face as I could. He did at least get some raised eyebrows for that comment, though. It totally earned them.

“Well, I guess I didn’t expect you to be this welcoming. Nice.” I must have had quite the look at that, because Blaine immediately started explaining in a rush of words. “You seemed kind of tuned out, like you couldn’t be bothered at the lake.” That was how that had come across? I guess better than Blaine realizing I’d practically been undressing him in my imagination.

“You’re popular here. Everyone seems to know you. Everyone talks to you. There’s that whole thing at dinner. I saw that tall guy seek you out and specifically drag you into it. I guess I thought you’d be way too cool to ever want to hang out with me.” Oh god, the look in those beautiful eyes as Blaine finally made eye contact. No more crushes on straight boys allowed. Especially hurting straight boys. I’d just have to keep telling myself that.

“This isn’t your high school, Blaine. Or mine. Popular here often equals outgoing and friendly, someone willing to make a complete fool out of themselves in front of the camp. Not someone on the top because they’ve crushed everyone under them. You don’t make friends here by putting other people down, even if they’re different. Especially if they’re different, maybe.”

I paused to think. Blaine had opened up. Could I do it back? Encourage the next level of sharing. “One of the reasons I love this place so much is because people actually like me, just for being myself. It’s a welcome break from home. From the one more year I have left of getting called horrible names just for daring to walk down the hallway before I escape to college.”

I stood, not waiting for a reply to that before I continued talking. I was **not** going to start crying tonight, and continuing this conversation upped the risk of that a million times. “At the lake? I was so frozen I don’t think my brain was firing properly. Be glad your cast gets you out of the lake in June.”

“Look, Schue suggested I bring a couple guys down here for a sleepover, so you’re not all alone your first night in the woods. Or overwhelmed by the chaos of upstairs. Why don’t I go get a friend or two while you change? I think you’d like my friends. Mike’s a really great guy, and don’t let Sam put you off. We’ve been friends since we both started here at eight, and he always means well. He teases sometimes, but it’s all playful.” I finally turned for a response from Blaine to my long, rambling speech, not quite sure I really wanted to see the reaction to everything I’d just said.

“I… meeting just a couple of the guys sounds like a good start,” Blaine admitted, standing as well. “I didn’t realize we had so much in common.” The second bit was added much more quietly, just a step up from a whisper.

He was bullied, too. It was kind of nice in an odd way to have my suspicions confirmed. At least it told me what might be the root cause of all that nervousness. “There’s a reason Schue chose me, rather than any one of a million other guys that know this place like the back of their hands, too. You’ll find out eventually that Schue knows what he’s doing more often than it seems.” I let that be the parting statement as I slipped out the door and up the stairs.

 

* * *

 

Mike was sprawled out on his bed with a novel in front of him, but Sam was nowhere to be seen as I made my way into our corner of the room. I sank down on my bed sitting crossed legged, waiting for Mike to finish his page and slide a bookmark into his book. We’d done this a hundred times over the years.

“So. Schue must have been really pissed off at you. You’ve been gone forever,” Mike pointed out, setting the book aside on the little wooden shelf by his bed.

“No, no. I was actually not in trouble this time. You heard about the new CIT who came up early today?” I waited for Mike’s nod before I continued. “His name’s Blaine. Schue asked me to be his big brother. I was downstairs helping him get settled in.”

“What’s he like?” Mike asked over with interest, swinging around to sit on the edge of his bunk, bracing his arms up on the bottom of Sam’s bed.

“Unsure. Worried. Nervous. I don’t think he was given any choice in coming here this summer or that he particularly wanted to.”

I tried to decide how much to tell Mike. More than I’d tell Sam, to be honest. That was pretty much always true. Sam was the friend I joked around and did crazy things with, but Mike was the friend I actually opened up to. He was the person at camp who knew the most about what my life at home was like, how bad school really was. Mike was the guy I’d called this year when I needed to let it out and vent. Or cry. He was generally pretty even keeled. Mike was good at giving support without freaking out.

“He didn’t say anything uncool to you did he, this Blaine kid? He’s not going to try to get himself sent home?” Mike’d had a camper like that last summer, I remembered. His parents had forced him to be here, and the kid had done everything he could to get himself sent home before he finally realized camp wasn’t torture.

“No, no. Nothing like that. It’s more like he’s afraid of how we’ll all treat him. I don’t know his whole story, but I can tell he’s been bullied. Schue told me he’s had a hard time. That cast?” It all added up to something that I wasn’t totally sure of yet, but I knew it wasn’t good. “The worst he said to me was that he thought I’d be too cool to want to spend time with him. Speaking of which, Schue asked if we could sleep down there with him tonight. I’d like to introduce him to you. I think you’d like him, actually.” I stood, pulling the duffel out from under my bed to find my sleeping bag. “Where’s Sam?”

“Taking a shower. Finally. He should be back soon. Sleepover down there? Alright. I’ll bring a few decks of cards along. You know we can spend hours amusing ourselves with those.” Mike stood to get his sleeping bag as well. He was already dressed in a pair of sweats, good enough for hanging out in or sleeping in. I moved to change into the same, grabbing a navy pair of sweatpants from my trunk.

“Sounds like a plan. Let’s stop at the bathroom and invite Sam on the way down. It’ll be just like old times, sleeping down there. Only quieter without the rest of this crowd.” I finished changing, sliding a pair of canvas shoes onto my feet for the walk down.

Mike grabbed for his pillow, cuddling it to his chest with one arm as he grabbed his backpack and sleeping bag with the other. “Lead on, Kurt.”

* * *

A quick stop in the bathroom had assured that Sam would be joining us soon, and smelling much better as he did so. It was almost hard to believe that Sam’s sweaty run, starting life guard training, the talk with Schue, helping Blaine unpack, all of that had been today. No wonder I was starting to feel tired.

I knocked on the CIT’s door before I opened it to peek my head around. “Decent in here? Ready for the party to come to you?” I joked, as if I hadn’t just peeled off my jeans and traded them for sweats in front of Mike and every other JC in the room. Sometimes that level of comfort took time. I wouldn’t be overly surprised if Blaine was changing in a stall in the bathroom for the first week or two.

“Yes. Yes, I am,” Blaine called back, and I probably shouldn’t have been surprised to see the blush on his cheeks as Mike and I slipped into the room.

“Blaine, this is my friend Mike. Mike, Blaine,” I introduced as I moved to toss my stuff on the bottom bunk next to Blaine’s, where I’d been sitting earlier. “Another friend, Sam, is coming later. He’s finishing taking a shower now. Thank God.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Mike said when I finally stopped talking. He slung his things down onto another bottom bunk so he could step over and offer to shake Blaine’s hand. I winced at the moment of sheer awkwardness in the room as Blaine stared at Mike’s offered hand. From Mike’s sheepish expression he realized the problem at the same time I did, as Blaine reached out to attempt a shake with his left.

“Likewise, so you live upstairs with Kurt?” Blaine asked, pulling his hand back with a nervous look over towards me. “You sure you don’t mind staying down here tonight? I don’t want to impose on all of you. It’s not like you know me or anything. Either of you, really.”

I’d just opened my mouth to reply when the usually quiet Mike beat me to it. “It’ll be great. A chance to curl up in my old bed and relive memories of last summer.” Mike moved to give a fond pat to the bunk he’d tossed his stuff on, giving Blaine a bit of personal space at the same time. “Though it does look much plainer in here without Kurt’s shrine to Wicked on the wall over there.”

I smirked over at Mike in return for that light teasing. “Hey. You know Wicked is awesome. I’ve made you listen to the sound track often enough over the years. You even finally admitted last summer you liked it, so don’t deny it now.” I gave Blaine a grin in return for the curious look he was giving me. “What? You thought you were the only one allowed to be a theater geek around here?”

“No, I…” Blaine hesitated, moving to sit on the very edge of his bed, perching there awkwardly. “I didn’t think I was the only one _allowed_ to be. I just didn’t expect to find anyone here with an appreciation for musicals.”

“Oh, believe me. Kurt appreciates musicals. Often and quite loudly. Especially when he’s singing in the shower. Thank God, he doesn’t have a horrible voice or something.” Sam must have come in at some point during that last bit, because there he was, tossing his sleeping bag up on the top of the bunk I’d chosen. “I’m so sleeping on top of you tonight, Hummel.” Sam waggled his eyebrows over to me teasingly.

“Kinky,” I replied to that teasing, by old habit. It was a total mistake by the rather panicked look starting to appear on Blaine’s face. Time to save the situation or at least try. I could analyze what happened later. “Sam, have you met Blaine yet? Blaine, this is Sam. Please try to avoid dissing musicals, Sam. You know that would mean I’d just have to start singing ‘Defying Gravity’ in your ear every time I see you.” I stuck my tongue out at my friend before turning to check on Blaine.

Of course, I should have suspected that Mike would be the one to look between all of us and change to a safer topic before I had the chance. He grabbed his backpack, unzipping it to peer inside. “I still have all the fun stuff I packed for the long drive up here from the city in this thing. Ooh. I’ve got Apples to Apples.” He pulled out a smaller to go version of the game. “Have you played this, Blaine? It’s one of my absolute favorites.”

Blaine shot a look between Sam and I, still apparently unsure what to think about our teasing. “Sam. Good to meet you.” That sounded a bit less than heartfelt, but quickly enough after, Blaine was looking towards the box in Mike’s hand. “No. How do you play?”

I gestured us all towards the floor. “Got any goodies in there, Mike?” I asked, peering playfully towards his backpack. “Did your mom send you with cookies?”

There were cookies. Score. Mike’s mom is a great baker.

The four of us found an open spot on the floor to settle as Mike explained the game to Blaine. “Each of us gets a hand of red cards with random things written on them. You play one each turn you’re not the judge and immediately draw another one. The judge flips over a green card with an adjective on it. The other guys play a card they think fits the adjective the best. The judge reads them and decides the winner based on what’s the best match. Or the worst, depending on the judge’s sense of humor. You’ll catch on fast.” Trust Mike to have a good idea of a game to break the ice.

 

* * *

 

“I’m telling you, Festering Wounds should have won that last hand!” I threw up my hands in the air, not bothering to hold back from being pretty overly dramatic.

“Kurt. The green card was Amazing. How are festering wounds amazing?” Sam asked over with eyes narrowed towards me.

“Because, because… they’re festering wounds! That card should always win. They’re amazingly disgusting?” I fired back, leaning back against the bunk behind me as I just broke down laughing.

“Are they always like this?” I could overhear Blaine asking Mike quietly.

“Pretty much, at least when they’re together. Keeps things from getting boring?” Mike suggested back with a laugh before he eyed the Tupperware container in front of him. “I think Kurt’s had enough sugar. You should see him after eating s’mores. Want to split the last cookie with me? Save us all from his sugar overload going farther?”

 

* * *

 

That damn bell rang way too early once again. Sam was actually still here this time as I unzipped my sleeping bag, pulling the nice, warm fabric away from me. “Up, up. We’ve got to get all this stuff back upstairs before breakfast!” I grabbed Mike’s pillow, yanking it away from his face and then went back to shake the bunk bed Sam and I had shared.

Thankfully, I’d worn warmer PJ’s last night, because it was still freaking cold. Blaine sat up, rubbing bleary eyes, without my intervention so I turned to look around instead. Apples to Apples cards were tossed on top of the box and a regular deck of playing cards were scattered over the bare wooden floor.

That game of hearts we’d played had been epic, even if Blaine had looked at the three of us like we were on crack when Sam had managed to ‘Shoot the Moon’ at one point and started singing the song. Of course Mike and I had to jump up as well and join in. Joining in on that song is conditioned into us by now.

I turned back to zip up and roll my sleeping bag. “We can get the cards at cleanup after breakfast,” I decided. “We’ll stop back by and pick you up on the way to breakfast, if you’d like, Blaine? We’ve got about 15 minutes left to change and brush teeth and stuff before flag raising.” I wrapped the elastic ties around the bag on auto pilot. I’d done this more than a few times before.

I’m going to have to admit Blaine’s hair was utterly adorable in the morning, with loose curls all messed up and going everywhere, even if I’m still sticking with the not crushing on straight guys thing this summer. He was sitting up in his bed now, staring at me as if he was trying to get his brain to start working. “Breakfast, right. I’ll wait for you when I’m ready. There will be coffee?”

“There will be,” I affirmed, grabbing my pillow before I looked up at Sam, kicking the bed to jar him again. “ _Come on_ , guys. You are not going to breakfast in your pajamas.” I waited long enough to see that both of them had actually crawled out of their sleeping bags before I waved towards Blaine and headed upstairs to get ready to face another day.


	3. Chapter 3

The morning went well enough. We made it to flag on time, survived breakfast (even if I probably had more coffee than actual food), and sat through more training with Wes. Thank God he’ll have the CITs here starting this afternoon to focus some of his attention on. I mean, I love Wes and all. I learned a ton from him last summer, but sometimes he can take things a little too seriously.

Suddenly it was lunchtime, and I made sure to drag Blaine along with me. I even purposely chose a table of rather more sedate counselors this time. It was a good excuse to meet some of the new guys on staff, and let Blaine see he wasn’t the only first timer. By the end of the meal, I could see the CITs starting to arrive through the camp side windows of the dining hall. I watched Blaine for a moment as we finished passing dishes to the table head to scrape, and I made a decision.

I was not taking Blaine back to the cabin for rest hour, unless he really, really wanted to go. I knew what the CIT room was probably like right now. Most of these guys hadn’t seen each other in person for months. They’d be giving manly hugs and talking enthusiastically about their years and their past summers. They probably wouldn’t give Blaine the time of day until they’d had a chance to do that.

I could just imagine that if I took Blaine back to the cabin right now, and he got that reaction, he’d just bottle right back up again. I hadn’t even known the guy quite a full day, but I knew that was one of his fears. He’d think that they’d never ever like him, when if they just met him in a few hours, it would probably all go swimmingly well.

Decided then. I almost missed Schue starting announcements. Well, I might have if just Schue saying that word didn’t start all the returning staff singing the announcement song at him at the top of their lungs. I joined in as well, with a shrug to all the new guys around me as the song faded out. “You’ll get used to all these songs, I promise. By the end of the first week the kids are here, you’ll know the words to most of them.”

Then I shut up to listen to announcements, and pulled Blaine aside as the staff all trailed out, heading back to their cabins for rest time, or really free time since it was still staff week. “Want to go for a walk? I know you got the full tour yesterday, but I know a good path to meander down. I could really use some time surrounded by trees.”

Blaine looked over at me for a moment considering it before he nodded. “As long as we don’t get too far away from camp. I guess I trust you not to jump me in the woods.” That seemed to be only about half joking, but I smiled over anyway.

“You could always nail me in the gut pretty well with that cast if I tried,” I noted, leading the way out, towards a path that wound its way around the lake shore. If we followed it far enough, it would lead to the girls’ camp, but I wasn’t planning to go that far today.

We walked a good bit of the way in companionable silence before I spotted the fallen tree I’d been looking for. “Let’s sit here. I want to drink in the view over the lake.” I climbed over the trunk, to settle on top of the log, watching Blaine do the same. More than anything, I wanted to connect with him, for some reason I still wasn’t quite sure of. I wanted to protect Blaine and take that vaguely haunted look from his eyes, but I also wanted him to just plain be my friend.

It would have to start with me opening up. I knew by instinct that I would have to be the first one to start the sharing. He seemed too content to stay quiet and bottled up. “I don’t know what I would have done in my life without this place, these people. Crap. That sounds so dramatic.”

Blaine looked out at the view of the lake through a few more trees as he listened, not making much if any eye contact with me. “It rather does, yeah. Why, though? What made you even end up here in the first place, all the way from Ohio?”

“As for how I got here, well, part of that is that this place is a family tradition on my mom’s side of the family.” I paused, taking time to decide how much to tell him before I finally decided to just be open. “I don’t know if I ever would have been sent here though if it hadn’t been for what happened when I was in second grade. My dad’s a mechanic. He’s got his own shop, but we have nowhere near the amount of money most of the kids here do.”

I glanced over quickly to check that Blaine was still listening. “About six months before I started here, some idiot was driving drunk and hit my mom’s car. She died. Which sounds like a really crazy reason to come to summer camp, but my grandparents thought it would be good for me. They were right that I needed to get away and have a chance to just be a kid. They pay my way here every summer. Still, I don’t envy my counselors that first summer. When I was crying for my mother, they couldn’t just tell me that I’d see her in a few weeks like we can most homesick kids. I got really close to my camp brother, Finn, though. We’re still close. Sometimes I feel like he’s really my big brother. Sam and I met that very first summer. We were in the same cabin that year and every year since. I think he made it his mission to make me laugh as often as possible. Really, I think that’s probably still his mission in life.”

Blaine was still looking out towards the lake when I fell quiet. I reached down to grab a twig, drawing squiggly lines in the dirt with it as I waited to see if he was going to talk, or if I should continue my monologue.  

“I’m sorry to hear about your mom,” Blaine finally said, giving me a quick glance before he looked out over the water. “So it’s just you and your dad now?”

“It is. My dad and I are like polar opposites. Sometimes I think we couldn’t be more different if we tried, but he’s a good guy. He really loves and supports me, even if he doesn’t always quite get me.” I used the stick to draw a smiley face in the dirt, then to scratch it out.

“Still, it must be nice to have him love you, support you,” Blaine said with a tone that sounded quite wistful. Was his relationship with his father not that great? Wasn’t his dad the one who sent him here this summer? Maybe that had some part of his resistance towards being here. Huh.

“It is. I think everyone should at least have some people in their life, and some place in their life, where they are accepted for exactly who they are. And that’s the limit of my mushy, idealistic statements for this afternoon.” I tossed the stick back out into the woods, shifting on the log so that I was looking at Blaine. “This could be that place for you, too, if you’d just let it.” Yes, I’d said it was my limit, but still, I couldn’t resist adding to it. So sue me.

I probably was pushing too much because Blaine didn’t look over towards me or respond for the longest time. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough to take that risk right now. What if, when you know all about me, you don’t want to even talk to me anymore?” His eyes left the lake, but they didn’t turn towards me, unfortunately. No, apparently Blaine had some burning need to stare holes in his cast.

“Unless you secretly murder puppies or mutilate small children, I think you’re safe in that.” It was a valiant attempt to lighten the mood a bit, even if it failed. “I’m from Ohio, too, remember? Being myself in Lima hasn’t exactly given me a fan club. I don’t know if I even want to count the number of times I’ve called Mike, or Sam, or Finn, or, hell, even Wes because I needed to talk to someone who didn’t hate me to bring me out of my funk. The number of times I’ve spilled my guts over the phone to Mike because I just couldn’t bottle in what all the torment was doing to me anymore should qualify the guy for some kind of superhero award."

Blaine turned to actually look to me as I let all that out, making eye contact when I probably wanted it the least. “I don’t murder puppies or mutilate small children, I promise. I just wish… I wish that didn’t happen to you. To either of us. But I can’t. Not today, but maybe someday?”

“Whenever you’re ready, I’m here. This doesn’t have to be our only stroll through the woods. We should be getting back towards camp soon though. I need to introduce you to the CITs before we start training as a big leadership group at two.” I stood, giving Blaine a reassuring smile before stepping back over the log and leading our way back along the peaceful path towards camp. “I promise they don’t murder puppies or mutilate small children either.”

* * *

I couldn’t put it off any longer, or at least it’s wouldn’t be wise to. I had to introduce Blaine to his fellow CITs before afternoon trainings started, even if I’d rather we just spent the whole afternoon in the woods.

I paused in front of the door to the CIT room, listening to the jumble of voices coming from inside, so different from the stillness I’d walked into with Blaine last night. I turned towards Blaine, mentally sighing at his expression.

Every time I thought we’d made some kind of connection or maybe he was going to come out of his shell a little bit, something would make Blaine shut right back down. In this case, it was the prospect of meeting a whole bunch of new people. I guess I should have realized that it’s going to take longer than a day for Blaine to really open up, but it _feels_ like it’s been longer than a day. And I’m not really the world’s most patient person in the first place.

“Remember, they’re nice guys. They’re just going to want to meet you. Imagine them as a room full of puppies. Lots of energy but no malice. You ready?” I gave Blaine what I hoped was a reassuring smile as I waited for him to take a deep breath and nod.

I pushed the door open and stepped in, giving Blaine the chance to hide, er, stand, behind me. I scanned over the chaos of the room looking for one particular face to start with. Trunks and bags were spread open everywhere. Guys were shouting to each other across rows of bunk beds. Somehow it seemed like way more than ten teenagers had arrived during lunch today.

The guy I was looking for found me first. “Kurt!” He called across the room, vaulting over an open trunk to suddenly be right there to pull me into an enthusiastic hug. I returned it quickly before pulling away with a grin on my face. Man, it was good to see him.

“Nick! I’m glad you guys finally made it. Are you hiding Jeff under a bed somewhere?” The two were practically inseparable after all. They spent even more time together than Sam, Mike, and I did.

“Nah. He just went to pee. Something about long car rides and too much soda. How are you? It’s good to see you! Did you just stop in to say hi?” Nick wasn’t usually quite _this_ bouncy. I wondered if Jeff shared all that soda. “Oh, you’re hiding someone.” Nick was peering around my shoulder, and I turned with him to catch the overwhelmed look on Blaine’s face at all the crazy in here.

“I am. I actually came by to introduce him to you. But maybe in the hallway? Where it’s a little less, all of this?” I nodded my head towards the door, and Blaine took that as a sign to retreat, moving quickly and still silently.

Nick and I stepped out after him, and I pulled the door shut, muffling some of the noise. “So, did Schue tell you guys that you have a newbie joining your group this summer?” I asked softly, leaning casually against the bare wood of the wall.

“No…” Nick let the word trail out as he gave Blaine a quick look over. I could guess what he was seeing. Blaine looked downright scared at the moment, cast tucked right up his body again as he held himself. “I did notice someone’s things I didn’t recognize were already unpacked in there, though.” Nick just raised his eyebrows over at me, waiting for an explanation. Nick looked almost as surprised at the thought of having a new CIT this year as I had, when Sam told me about it yesterday.

“Well, there is one. This is Blaine. He’ll be joining your group this summer. Schue made me his big brother, so I’ve been showing him around since he got here a day early. Blaine, this is Nick.”

Blaine froze for just a second before giving Nick a wary smile, but a smile none the less. “It’s good to meet you.” That sounded a lot more formal than natural, but hey, Blaine was finally saying something here. I’d take it.

“Good to meet you, too. It’ll be nice to have some new blood around when we all start to get on each other’s nerves in the same ways we have been for years now.” I gave Blaine a little raise of eyebrows, like ‘See?’

I would have said something about it as well, but a blond tornado pushed past Blaine and made me glad I was braced by the wall behind me when he threw himself at me in a warm hug. I swear that without the wall to hold me up he would have knocked me right over.

“Jeff, geez. Don’t squish me. How much caffeine did you have, anyway?” I returned the hug before pushing the blond guy away playfully. “I have someone for you to meet.” I looked past Jeff to check on Blaine, mouthing over ‘Remember. Puppies.’ when I saw the rather shell-shocked look on his face at Jeff’s entrance.

Blaine took a deep breath and nodded over to me before he turned to give Jeff a nervous smile, arms tucked tight again himself. “Hi?” I swear he really did make the greeting sound like a question.

“Oh! Hey! You’re new. Either that or someone _really_ changed in the last year,” Jeff observed jokingly. “My name’s Jeff.”

“Blaine. Yeah, I’m new. Are you a CIT, too?” It was tentative and nervous sounding, but at least Blaine wasn’t waiting for me to introduce him. That was a good reason for me to just stay leaning against the wall over here. I’d let Blaine handle it, until and if he needed me.

Jeff nodded enthusiastically. How much caffeine did he have, anyway? Maybe it was a combination of that and ‘just got to camp’ excitement? “I am! Wait, too? Are you talking about Nick? Oooh. Or is yours the mystery stuff that was all unpacked in our room when we got here?” How in the hell did Jeff, with his floppy hair, actually manage to look that much like a puppy?

“I guess I could mean Nick, too, but I was talking about myself. That is my stuff. No one messed with it, right?” Blaine glanced quickly between Nick and Jeff. I fully understood that fear, in a way neither of those two probably could. I doubted either of them had ever had anyone purposely dirty or destroy their things, just to get at them.

“No one would,” I spoke up, since the other two just looked confused and slightly offended at that question. “I mean, at some point, someone might steal a pair of Sam’s underwear to run up the flag pole, but that’s only because they know he’d think it was hilarious. No one’s going to ruin your stuff here. Well, if you work with the little guys, it’s rather amazing how much bug juice they can manage to transfer onto your body, but no one will purposely do it. Plus, Schue would actually deal with it if someone tried.”

Nick raised his eyebrows over towards me quickly, mouthing ‘talk later?’ before he turned to grin to Jeff, moving to stand beside his best friend. “I already told Blaine how excited we’ll all be to have some fresh blood in the group. I think your bed is beside the bunk Jeff and I are sharing. Just be prepared for the guys to be curious tonight. They’ll be welcoming, but it’s been _years_ since someone new has joined our group. It’s good practice for getting to be counselors. We might have a new co-counselor every year, after all.”

I gave Nick a relieved look and nodded to his request. The reason I chose Nick to pull out went beyond just the fact that we’re friends. He’s a good guy, and I have a gut feeling that he and Blaine will get along. “Right now though, I think we should head upstairs. Wes said he wanted everyone to meet in the JC’s room for training this afternoon, which means, if we don’t get up there soon, we’ll end up sitting on the floor.”

 

* * *

 

I’d been right. The JCs had all staked out spots already, meaning the CITs were going to have to find a spot on the floor or get snarked at by Wes for being out of ‘optimal listening range’.

Thankfully, I had a secret weapon. Mike.

As soon as we walked into the room, Mike waved us over. I suppose he really should have saved spots for us, considering the prime location he’d secured was actually sitting on top of my bed. It was the least he could do. “Kurt, Blaine! I saved you spots!”

I let out a chuckle as we made our way over to him. “You’d better have, considering that it is  _my_ bed you’re sitting on,” I pointed out, slipping off my sandals to sit beside Mike, patting the foot of the bed in invitation to Blaine. “Nick and Jeff can just steal your bed in retribution,” I told him with a smirk. “It’s probably close enough to not freak Wes out.”

“Is Wes hard to get along with?” Blaine asked softly as he followed my example and slipped off his shoes, taking the offered spot on my bed, tucking his legs up against his body, arms tight around them, all closed in.

“Nah. He’s just a bit uptight sometimes,” Mike answered, leaning forward a bit to talk across me. “He’s a good guy though. You can go to him to talk about _anything_ , and he’ll listen. Just don’t go against Wes’s planned structure.”

That said, Mike turned and gave Nick and Jeff a grin. “Welcome back, guys! Just don’t get dirt on my sheets. Or tell Kurt that I rubbed stinky feet all over his.”

I was in the middle of whacking Mike on the shoulder when Wes strolled in, catching me but missing the reason for it. Just my luck. “Hands to yourself, Hummel,” our group leader stated in a tone that really sounded exactly like my fourth grade teacher.

I pulled my hand back and stuck my tongue out at Mike instead, just like I would have done in fourth grade. It was apparently the right choice because there was a startled bit of laughter from Blaine at the childishness. Hey, I’d act like I was ten more often if it got that response.

Wes spent the next two hours going over characteristics of children at different ages. Blah. I really did try to listen in, but I’ll admit to getting occasionally distracted by, well, anything. I’d heard most of the same stuff last year. I think Wes might have a memorized script.

Finally, he gave us a break, and, handily enough, Blaine took the time to go use the bathroom. With half the other guys (Mike and Sam included) doing the same thing, I knew I’d have the three minutes I needed to talk to Nick and Jeff.

I spun around on the bed to face Nick and Jeff where they’d sprawled out at opposite ends of Mike’s bunk. “So. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. My new sidekick.”

Nick laughed at that term. “You’re going to be Batman, and he’ll be Robin? I bet you could whip out the costumes, no problem.”

“Of course I could. But that’s not really what I meant. I’d be a fabulous Batman, though, right? With the old style spandex costume and everything? Bang. Pow.” I shook my head, refocusing. “Will you two help me keep an eye on him? I don’t want to treat him like he’s five or anything, but I want him to settle in and feel safe here.”

Jeff nodded for both of them. “You didn’t really even need to ask. You know we all look out for each other. What’s the story there, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t really know. He hasn’t told me much at all. I think it’s going to take him awhile to trust anyone here enough to open up.” I hesitated before adding, “I do know now why Schue chose me, though. I’ve got personal experience with being bullied, and I’m pretty sure Blaine has faced more than his share of it.”

Yeah, that earned me raised eyebrows from Nick. “You do? I never knew that.”

“Coming out in high school is probably a rather different experience in Ohio than Boston or New York. And even before I was out, it’s not like it wasn’t rather obvious that I was different,” I noted, nodding to Nick and Jeff as I named the cities they lived in. “I don’t like to talk about it here. I’d rather just enjoy two months without having to deal with it. This is my escape to refresh and recharge. I’d like Blaine to get the chance to feel like he’s got a safe spot to do the same, you know?”

Nick nodded over. “I guess that makes sense. I’ll do my best to make sure Blaine feels welcome but not like I’m treating him like he’s one of Finn’s cute, little juniors.”

“Perfect. And keep it super light on the teasing? He probably wouldn’t take it in the spirit you mean it right now,” I advised before glancing toward the door. Blaine’d probably be back anytime now. “So, what are you most looking forward to about being CITs?”


	4. Chapter 4

The days passed in a blur. I continued lifeguard training, where Sam continued to try to prove that he was part fish. The whole lot of us continued trainings with Schue, Wes, or one of the other group leaders.

Best of all, I got to watch Blaine start to settle in. He wasn’t as jumpy as he had been the first day. He had started to actually talk to me, even if it wasn’t about important things yet. Still, he’d tell me stories about what silly thing Nick or Jeff had done when the CITs were off learning group games. I’d even overheard him chatting with Mike about music the other day. It was good.

Today was the last day of just the staff being at camp. Tomorrow, a hundred and fifty boys would come tumbling out of their parents' cars or off the camp buses, and this place would be bursting with energy. I was looking forward to it, but I was also trying to enjoy the relative quiet for the last bits I could.

Right now, I had a meeting with Schue and Wes. All of us leadership training guys had one this afternoon down at the main office. Well, really, right now I was sitting on the porch waiting for Mike to finish his meeting inside. Good thing there were those Adirondack chairs and a decent view.

The main point of the meeting was going to be to find out which age group we were assigned to work with for the summer. There were 12 camper cabins, and most of them had two or three counselors of their own. Then for backup, and training, there was a CIT and a JC assigned to all the younger cabins.

The office door opened, and Mike strode out. I raised my eyebrows towards him curiously. So?

“Sub-seniors. The thirteen year olds. I am so excited. That means Schue is letting me roll up with the guys I had last summer.” That was exactly what Mike had wanted. “You’d better not keep them waiting, though. Good luck.”

“Glad you got your first choice. Yeah, hopefully I won’t need  _too_ much luck,” I noted jokingly, standing to move into the office after one last wave at Mike. Time to face the music.

“Kurt! Come on in and take a seat.” Schue waved me over toward the couch beside Wes. We were out in the main room of the office this time, and it was much more spacious than Schue’s little closet in the back. Wes and Schue had set up shop in the sitting area off to one side, with Schue’s clipboard and notes on the coffee table in front of us.

“You might have noticed that we saved you for last, Kurt,” Schue continued. “There was a reason for that. We wanted to talk to you for a few minutes before we do the normal group assignment.”

Why is it that whenever Schue says something like that, I try to figure out what I’ve done this time? “Is this about how Sam’s shoes got run up the flagpole?” I asked, trying to keep the nerves to a minimum.

“No. But we can talk about that later.” Wes raised his eyebrows at me. It would have looked more impressive if I couldn’t tell that he was trying not to laugh. “We wanted to talk about Blaine. How do you think he’s doing?”

“I, huh.” I had to stop for a moment to really get my thoughts together on that subject. “Blaine’s starting to settle in. He’s still not really comfortable with big groups of people, but he’s started to at least hold real conversations with Mike and I. With Nick, too, I think. At first, he didn’t really talk unless you asked him a direct question.”

“That’s good to hear,” Schue told me, in a very director-like tone before asking, “Has he opened up to you at all on a more personal level?”

“Not really. He’s taken a few baby steps that way, but I think he’s going to have to  _really_ trust me before he does.” I paused. Somehow this whole thing with Blaine was having the side effect of making me open up, even if Blaine never does. “I’m trying to share some trust with him. I’ve realized that how do I expect him to open up, when I never do? Other than Mike, and maybe Finn, I don’t talk about what life in high school is like for me. Why should I expect Blaine to?”

I was fully avoiding looking over towards Wes now. I mean, I’d talked in very basic terms about being bullied in my interview with Schue this year, but it was true. I don’t open up about this at camp. Or anywhere, really, because even the people at school, they only know because they are there to witness it all.

“But I have the strength to get through, well, my own personal hell, because I know there are people who accept me that I can rely on. Even if Blaine never opens up to me or anyone here, I think that if we can give him that then we’ll have made a sappy, overly optimistic difference in his life.”

“God, Kurt,” Wes said. Even if I was still avoiding looking at him, apparently he wasn’t having the same problem. “I never realized. I mean, you always seem so together and happy.”

“I try to be together and happy or at least to seem like it. I don’t want people here to see me as that kid who gets bullied. I don’t want you to see me as someone broken or fragile, because I’m not either one. If anything, I’m stronger because of it. I refuse to let homophobic idiots break me. They can toss me in dumpsters, call me every name under the sun, throw frozen drinks on me, and shove me into lockers until my back is black and blue, but they can’t change me. I know who I am, and I refuse to let anyone make me believe that who I am isn’t okay.” I looked up then, because what was really the point in hiding with my gaze if I had put all of that out on the line already? “You all have taught me that the greatest thing I can be is myself.”

“And that is why I chose you to mentor Blaine,” Schue stated, breaking to moment of silence that followed my rant. “You have stayed strong through more than you should have faced. I’m hoping some of that strength can rub off. I have a feeling that he needs it.”

“Because of that, we decided that we want to keep you and Blaine together in a cabin. Last summer, you had sub-seniors, but we can’t have you roll up with them,” Wes added on to what Schue had been saying.

I nodded my head. “I figured that would be the case. They’re seniors now, and you never really put CITs or JCs with the 14 or 15-year-olds. Where have you stuck me instead?”

Wes looked down at the papers on the coffee table and then back up at me. “We also didn’t really think putting Blaine with kids that would know so much more about camp than him would be a good fit right now. We debated a few different options, but in the end, we’re putting you with little ones. We’ve got you with Finn’s cabin of nine-year-olds. His co-counselor this year is one of the new international staff. That will also give Blaine someone who sees this as all as foreign and new as it must seem to him.”

I nodded as I thought through all that in my head. Oh God. Little tiny guys. The earliest a boy could start here was eight, so at most the nine-year-olds would be second year campers. Lots of them would be newbies. It wasn’t exactly my first choice. They were so sticky and needy. It did make sense though the way Wes stated it.

“I can see your point there,” I said, trying to be professional about it all. “And I’m glad you’re putting me with Finn.” There, that was a highlight of the whole thing, and Finn always has one of the younger age groups. He just relates to the little guys. Despite the fact that he’s in college, I don’t think he’s ever truly grown up.

“I know this isn’t your first choice of age groups, so thank you for being so willing to take this on. I think it will be good for you as well to learn how to work with the younger boys,” Schue stated, moving to stand. “I’m sure you want to get going, though. I know the line for the showers is probably already growing before our social with the girls’ camp tonight.”

I stood as well, grinning over. “Oh man. I hope it is. I’ve heard the girls try to spend hours getting ready for these things. We’re lucky if I can convince the guys to put on a clean shirt that actually matches their pants,” I said with a dryly teasing tone and a shake of my head.

* * *

 

“Kurt! You’re back! I need help,” Sam called over as I walked into the cabin. It seemed the CITs had swarmed our room again for advice, or at least random chatter, judging by the number of people inside. Thankfully, it looked like most of the people with earlier times to meet with Schue and Wes had already hit the showers, seeing all the wet heads of hair.

I flashed Mike and Blaine each a quick smile when I saw them sitting on opposite ends of Mike’s bed then turned to raise my eyebrows over at Sam. He was standing in front of his trunk, dressed in just jeans and an undershirt giving me that puppy-dog hopeful look of his. “Are you having a fashion crisis?” I asked in my best diva tone.

I could hear Mike trying not to laugh in the background as Sam replied, “You know you have better fashion sense than I do. I know you’re not interested in finding a summer girlfriend, but help a guy out?” Sam turned to stick his tongue out very maturely at Mike. “Like you don’t want to dress up to impress. I know you’ve had your eye on Tina for the last two years.”

“You really do need to make a move,” I told Mike with a bit of a teasing tone, though I really did mean it. “You’ve been mooning over that girl forever. Plus, she’s kind, smart, and a good friend. You could do so much worse.” I caught a glimpse of Blaine as I looked over. The kid looked confused by all this. Surely his friends at home talked about girls? “What shirts are you considering? Those jeans are a good choice, so you’re halfway there.” I turned my gaze back over towards Sam.

“I only brought two button downs. Do you think this would be too dressy for tonight?” Sam held up a short sleeved, button down shirt in a rich, blue color.

“Not if you want to date a girl this summer. You want to make a good first impression. I think that’s a good choice actually, with your tan and your blonde hair.” Decision made. That was easy. I turned back to give Mike and Blaine a look over. “Now, let me go see if there’s any hot water left in the showers, and then I’ll help you two, if you need it. It’ll be good to chat with the girls again. I can’t wait to catch up with Mercedes and Tina.”

* * *

 

The CITs and JCs had Wes and David tagging along as chaperones as we walked along the path towards the girls’ camp. It was the same path I’d wandered along with Blaine just a few days ago. It was tradition, apparently, that the first social of the summer for the leadership training campers would be on the last night of staff week. From here on, we’d see the girls for an evening every week or so.

The location alternated between the two camps. During the rest of the summer, the seniors would have socials the same night at the opposite camp. When it was at the girls’ camp, their Group Leader or Director would plan the events. Schue or Wes would plan when it was at ours. Overall, it worked out pretty well. There was some awkward flirting, some camp romance, and a chance to just make friends, especially for me.

The boys had cleaned up rather well. It looked like everyone had managed to at least wear clean clothes, and most of them were rather stylish. Well done.

Blaine was tagging along towards the back of the group, watching, well, staring at me, really. Maybe this was a good time to figure out what the hell was up with the way he’d been looking at me ever since I'd helped Sam choose an outfit.

I slowed my pace to let the group flow ahead of me until I was walking at Blaine’s side. “Hey. You doing alright with this?” I asked over, trying to give him an opening.

“I’m fine,” Blaine answered automatically. We walked silently beside each other for a minute before Blaine took a deep breath and asked, “Can I ask something that’s probably rudely personal?”

I raised my eyebrows over at him and shrugged. “Ask away. If I don’t want to answer it, I can always just tell you that, right?” I kept my tone light. After all, Blaine starting a conversation on any kind of personal note was a new thing.

“Sam said something about you not being interested in a summer girlfriend. Is that because you have one at home? Or…” Blaine stared ahead at the trail after shooting a quick, curious glance over at me.

I tried to hold in my laughter, and mostly succeeded. “No girlfriend at home, or anywhere else for that matter. And sadly, no boyfriend either,” I added, giving Blaine a sidelong look to see his reaction to that.

He blinked a few times and then stopped in his tracks to look over towards me. “You’re gay? And they all know?” Blaine didn’t sound upset about it, thankfully. It would have sucked for such a cute guy to be homophobic. He sounded more surprised than anything.

“I am. And they do. This is the first place I came out, actually. It was much easier coming out here than at school. Here, they accept being gay as just another part of who I am. They don’t look at me like I am some kind of freak instead of the kid they’ve known since they were eight.” I glanced over at Blaine beside me on the path.

I started to walk again, now that there was that bit of distance between us and the rest of the guys. I knew that Wes wouldn’t question it. After all, he wanted Blaine to open up to me. That wasn’t going to happen in the crowd. “You don’t have a problem with it, do you?” I let the insecurity show in my voice, trying to let myself be genuine instead of hiding behind my Lima masks.

“A problem? No, I would never. I mean, I’m… I’m a theater kid, right?” I could have sworn Blaine was about to say something else there. Maybe I finally had a crush on a gay kid for once in my life? Figures that it would be one so hurting that I couldn’t do anything about it right now. “It’s just that you’re popular here. I guess I’ve never been anywhere but a theater where anyone was ever gay and out and still so well liked. It’s different. Good different.”

Blaine kicked at the dirt as he continued walking slowly, leaving the group a bit further behind until no one else could hear us. He stared at me for a long moment as if he was having some mental war on what to say next before asking, with a tone as vulnerable as a kitten, “Do you think they’ll still like me when they find out I’m gay, too?”

I gave Blaine a wide grin, stopping once again to turn and face him. I’d hug him if I didn’t think he’d startle. “Of course they will. They’ll like you because you’re you. That’s just one part of you. Welcome to not being in Ohio.”


	5. Chapter 5

I sank back into my seat and glanced around the room. The girls’ camp had ended up holding a pretty traditional mixer. There were board games set up on tables at one side, and cheesy pop music that Mike kept trying to get people to dance to. Most of us were avoiding both, huddled instead off to the other side of the room, where a mixture of old couches and comfy chairs were clustered, shoving more people than intended into each piece of furniture.

Currently, I’d managed to snag a can of Diet Coke from the table of junk food and crammed myself onto a group shared couch between Mercedes and Tina, gossiping about our years and our plans for the summer.

“So, I think you should go join Mike on the dance floor.” I cut in, nudging Tina lightly in the ribs with my elbow as I looked out to where Mike had managed to get Blaine, of all people, to dance along to a cheesy old disco song with him. I did have to admit, even if he couldn’t quite keep up with Mike, the kid did have some moves. I mean, Blaine. Blaine had some moves. Got to stop referring to him as the kid, even in my head. He was both too cute and too close to my age for that.

Tina flushed bright red and ducked her head down. “He’s got a friend out there, that new kid from your camp. I hardly think he’d appreciate me interrupting them.” 

I turned my gaze quickly over to Mercedes for support before grinning over to Tina. “Oh ye of little faith, I happen to have insider knowledge. All knowing being that I am, or maybe just close friend that I am, whatever, I know Mike would love to dance with you.”

Mercedes popped into the conversation, smirking over to Tina. “What did I tell you? You’ve got to make a move or you’ll be mooning over him all summer. Again.  Go for it. And it is a peppy song. It’s not like you’ll be cutting the new guy, Blaine was it? It’s not like you’ll be forcing him out. This is the sort of thing you can dance to in a group.”

I reached over to push Tina up. “Go. You know you want to,” I teased with a smirk on my face.

Tina turned around, hands on her hips, fighting not to laugh. “Fine. Fine. But if it goes badly, I’m blaming it all on you.”

“Blame away, if it happens. I doubt it will," I quipped over confidently, shooing her off with a laugh. “Apparently, I’m in a matchmaking mood tonight.” I turned a bit on the now a bit less crowded couch to focus on Mercedes, and maybe have a better view of what was happening on the dance floor.

“Sure. So you’re working your magic on Mike and Tina? That’s a pretty obvious pair. It was just up to one of them to actually get the nerve to make a first move. Who’s next on your matchmaking list?” Mercedes leaned in, clearly in a good mood tonight. It was so nice to see some of the girls, since it was a much rarer thing than time with the guys, during the summer at least. At home? I hung out with girls a lot. It felt safer.

“But someone had to prod them along,” I said, with a bit of playful arrogance before I looked her over. “How about you? Anyone caught your eye tonight?”

“Me? Yeah, right. I’m not the girl guys fawn over.” Mercedes shifted self-consciously. “I’d rather just hang out with my friends.” Yeah. That sounded really honest. Not.

“Why not? You’re smart, witty, great to be around. Plus, you’re beautiful, Mercedes. You just have to own it.” I paused for a second looking around at the guys from my cabin before I grinned. “Not that a summer fling is the be all, end all, because Lord knows I’ll probably never have one, but if one of the guys was interested, would you consider it?”

I watched Mercedes think about it for a moment as someone new must have gotten ahold of the iPod and changed the playlist. The disco music faded away into a ballad. I looked up to see Sam smirking over towards where Mike was actually stepping up to make a move, using the chance to pull Tina over. I leaned even closer to Mercedes trying to come up with some smart aleck comment to whisper when I saw Blaine dart out of the room.

“Shit. I need to go make sure our new guy’s alright.” I caught Wes’s eye and pointed to myself, letting him know I’d handle it. If need be, I could always run back in for him.

“Why you? Not trying to be rude, but still.” Mercedes turned to follow my gaze. “Wes could handle it. It’s your night to relax.”

“Probably could. But, Blaine’s my camp brother. That makes me responsible, in a way. I think we’re getting to point he might tell me things he wouldn’t open to Wes about. I'll talk to you later. I’ll write if I don’t make it back tonight,” I promised.

I wasn’t hanging around to hear anything more Mercedes said, following Blaine out of the building, the same one as the dining hall. Blaine had gone out the back way, to a large, open deck overlooking the lake.

It took me a moment to spot him. Even that bright red cast is muted when the only light is what’s spilling from the dining hall windows and what is shining down from the moon and stars.

“You alright?” I asked, as much to announce myself as anything as I walked over to the bench I’d finally spotted Blaine on.

“I’m fine.” The response was automatic, and blatantly untruthful. The new guy was shaking, which is totally what you do when you’re fine.

I sat down on the bench and hesitated for a moment before I reached over and pulled him into a hug. I’d been avoiding too much physical contact ever since we met, not wanting to trigger bad memories. Right now, though, it looked like he needed that hug very badly. “It’s alright not to be fine sometimes,” I pointed out. “I can’t make you talk about anything, but I’m here to listen if you want to tell me what’s wrong.”

Blaine stiffened at first, in reaction to the hug or the words, or probably both. Then he actually relaxed into the touch, which felt like major progress. “I think I’m ready to talk,” he admitted. Maybe our quiet confidence sharing on the way over had opened this up? “You have to promise not to tell anyone, though.” Blaine pulled back to look up at me, judging what my response would be.

“Can I give the same promise we learned in training to give a camper? If it’s not something that I need to share to keep you safe, I won’t tell anyone.” I looked right back to Blaine, even, steady. I couldn’t promise not to tell and have it turn out that his dad beat him or he was hurting himself or something.

Blaine considered it for a moment and then nodded. “That will work. The people who need to know for that already do.” He shifted in position on the bench, turning sideways to face me with his legs pulled up to his chest, both more open and more protected at the same time. “Tonight was going so well. I met new people and didn’t want to hide in the other room. I was having fun dancing with Mike, and then Mike and Tina. I love music in general. Singing, dancing, playing it when I’m not covered in plaster.” Blaine paused there at that reminder, pulling his legs in even closer. “It was the slow dancing. For some reason that started to trigger memories that the faster music didn’t.”

I reached over to put a hand on Blaine’s knee hoping to be a steadying presence. “Sometimes you just don’t know what will be a trigger. One of the guys clapped me on the shoulder yesterday, and I braced myself, like some part of my brain was expecting that the next step would be to shove me into something. It’s not either of our faults for memories everyday things pull to the front of our minds.”

Blaine flashed me a not-so-genuine smile, but he didn’t pull away from my hand on his knee. “Do you have time for the whole story? I think I’d like to tell you, and to tell you now before we have a bunch of nine-year-olds to worry about.”

I nodded over. “I’ve got as much time as you need. Hell, I’ll sneak in and set the clocks inside back if I need to.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to do that,” he said earnestly, before taking a deep breath. “I guess I’ll just dive in. The best place to start is the spring of my Freshman year. I’d known I was gay for a while, but I hadn’t been ready to actually admit it. That spring, I started to creep out of the closet. I didn’t announce it to everyone, but I told a couple of good friends in confidence. I even went as far as to come out to my parents. That wasn’t quite a disaster. My dad didn’t kick me out or anything, but I could tell he wasn’t happy. I heard him fighting a few times with my mom over my theater work. As if being in plays made me suddenly like boys. Last summer, he had me work on fixing up a car with him, as if that would butch me up. This year, I’m off to an all boys camp. See the trend?”

“That sucks. I know I’m really lucky to have a dad as supportive as mine.” I gave a quick laugh. “And if either of those things was going to turn someone straight, I wouldn’t be drooling over boys in movies. I’ve been coming here for years and help out now and again with cars in my dad’s repair shop. Those things can’t make us straight any more than theater can make us gay.” I rolled my eyes supportively.

“I know. Believe me, I know. If I could just get my dad to know, that’d be great. Anyway, word started to spread around school that I was gay. I really think one of the people I told betrayed that trust. My sophomore year in general sucked. I think you know what I mean.” Blaine didn’t elaborate on the bullying further, just looking up to see me nod over to him.

“I do. I’ve been in that spot. One more year, and I can escape from it. I think I’ll literally be counting down the days of my senior year,” I half joked, shifting in my seat as well, so I could lean my head against the back of the bench looking over towards Blaine.

“I bet you will. I’ll be starting at a new school this fall. I don’t know if I can bear hoping it’s better, because what if it isn’t? You know?” Blaine paused, before he shook his head. “I should finish the story, or I’ll lose my nerve. Or someone will come looking for us. I can do this. I **can** do this.” The last part was apparently to himself, judging by the dropped volume level.

“There was only one other boy at my school who was out, a freshman, William. Will and I slowly became friends. We’d never really run in the same social circles, but now we had some shared crappy experiences to bond over. At the end of the year, the school held a dance for the underclassmen. The upperclassmen got prom, and we got this Sadie Hawkins dance the last night of finals. I got the bright idea that Will and I should go together. We were just friends, but neither of us had anyone else to take. He agreed.” 

I squeezed Blaine’s knee when he stopped, expression blank. “I don’t actually remember much about that night. There are little flashes of dancing in my holey memories and a general memory of fear and pain. Nothing specific. Will told me later that some guys followed us out to the parking lot, and beat the shit out of us while we were waiting for his dad to pick us up.”

“Oh God, Blaine. That sucks.” What do you really say to that? I shifted closer, offering my arms out for a hug. Honestly, I was pretty surprised when Blaine took me up on that offer, trembling faintly once more.

I held him for a moment before he pulled back, using the hand that wasn’t covered in a large amount of plaster to rub tears from his eyes. “Anyway, my next clear memories are in the hospital. I took the brunt of it. Will was all black and blue and swollen up, but I had a pretty good concussion and breaks through both bones in my arm and my wrist. By the time they sent me home from the hospital, my dad was looking for another school for me for the fall and talking to Schue about shipping me off here, like he couldn’t even stand to have me around.”

“Maybe. Or did you ever consider that maybe he was trying to give you time and a place to heal?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

“I don’t… I never thought about it like that,” Blaine said, brow furrowed.

“And maybe you’re totally right. But you could always think of it that way for yourself. Even if your dad did send you here to not have you around for summer, who says it can’t be a good experience for you?” I pointed out. “You can choose to make this a place to get away from all that crap at home and heal.” I paused to shake my head. “I sound like some kind of self-help book right now. Sorry.”

That got a laugh out of Blaine. “No, it’s nice. You’re the first person I’ve really talked to about this, at least that wasn’t there. Thank you for just listening.”

I didn’t get the chance to respond to that, as I heard the creak of the wooden door. I slid away from Blaine a bit on the bench, maintaining appearances for his sake. I did relax a bit though when I saw who was there. Wes.

“Hey guys. I wanted to come make sure you’re doing alright.” Wes flashed his ‘big brother’ smile over. I swear he practices that look in the mirror.

“We’re fine. Just enjoying a beautiful evening out here on the porch,” I covered, with a quick look over to Blaine. I’d keep his confidence.

Blaine didn’t seem to have anything to add to that, but Wes had to notice the tear tracks on his cheeks. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything about them, nodding instead. “Well, in that case, I’ll pass over the bottles of water I brought you and head back inside. We’ve got about another half hour before we head back. Remember, dehydration is no fun.”

A bottle was offered out to both of us, with a rather significant look over to me. I took mine then had to stifle a laugh. Wes had written a message onto the label of the bottle, asking me to see him when we got home. “We promise to stay well hydrated. I’d say scout’s honor, but the scouts would never have me.” I mock pouted, to get a laugh out of Blaine as he cracked his bottle open. “Thank you, Wes. I’ll see you later.”

* * *

 

The evening wound down quickly after that, and soon enough we bid the girls goodbye. I was happy enough to see Mike give Tina a quick hug. Matchmaking success. Then it was back to our side of the lake to get ready for bed.

As soon as I had changed into pajamas and made a trip to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face, I knocked on Wes’ door.

He pulled it open, peeking around at me, before gesturing me inside. I rarely saw the inside of this room, so I took the moment to glance around. As a group leader, Wes had a private room, but it was hardly spacious. There was a twin bed pushed up against one wall, a battered desk against the other, and shelving against the wall in between, full of Wes’ belongings.

“Take the chair. Let’s talk.” Wes gestured to the rolling chair stuck under the old desk. I set my toiletry basket onto that desktop before I settled into the chair. Wes took the bed, tucking his feet under him and using the wall as a backrest. “How is Blaine?”

“Oddly enough, I think he’s better than before we left,” I said after a moment’s thought. “The slow dance triggered some memories. We dealt with them. Blaine finally opened up with me, told me a lot about what happened to him.”

I saw the curious look on Wes’ face and shook my head. “It’s Blaine’s place to share that with people when and if he’s ready. I’m not going to break his trust that way. I promised him I wouldn’t tell.” Wes opened his mouth, and I held up a hand to cut him off. “Unless I needed to for his safety. I listened in training. Most of the time.”

Wes laughed openly at that last bit of honesty before he sobered back up. “Do you think this will happen again? When the campers are here?”

“Maybe. Probably. It would be a bigger problem if Blaine were 18 instead of 16. He’s a CIT. He’s not supposed to be left alone with campers anyway, right?” I pointed out. “So maybe you should just talk to the staff he’ll work with the most, like Finn and Rory, about what to do if it does?”

“That is a good point. I’ll bring that up with Schue when I talk to him about this tomorrow.” Wes paused to smile proudly over towards me. “I also wanted to tell you how impressed I’ve been with the way you’ve handled all of this. You’ve gone above and beyond to help Blaine. You’re showing how much you’ve grown up and what kind of counselor we can expect you to be.”

My stupid pale skin flushed at that praise. “Thank you. That means a lot. Hearing Blaine’s story tonight, it was clear that it could just have easily been me. If it were, I’d want someone to be there for me. How could I not be there for him, you know?”

“I know. Go get some sleep. I heard a rumor that you’re going to have a gaggle of hyper nine-year-olds to take care of tomorrow.”


	6. Chapter 6

I tucked the end of the top sheet in at the end of a cot looking around the cabin. “Hard to believe that in just a few hours we’ll have ten little nine-year-olds filling this space.”

“It always amazes me the first couple days just how loud they can be and how much sheer space they manage to take up,” Finn noted, busy labeling space on the shelving at the back of the room for sports gear. “I mean, they’re really little people! But you’d never know that when they swarm you all together.”

“Swarm you?” Blaine asked with a gulp. He was rather limited in this whole unpacking thing by having his dominant arm unavailable for use. Instead, he was decorating name tags to go above the kids beds with stickers of superheroes. Important work.

I glanced between Blaine and Rory, Finn’s co-counselor. Rory was one of the new international staff, from Ireland. He looked about as freaked out by the idea of swarming children as Blaine. I bit back laughter as I fielded that question, not really trusting what Finn would say. “They’re not going to try to overtake you like you’re in the Hunger Games arena or something. Relax. The younger campers can just be a little more… enthusiastic. They still think their counselors are the most awesome people on the planet and therefore need to tell them every experience they had in the five minutes they were apart.”

“Or they need to tell you about how they peed the bed and got snot all over their shirt because they blew their nose into it and they think their pinky toe is bleeding, even though they can’t see any blood. Plus there’s a bird chirping, so they can’t possibly go back to sleep. Of course they need to wake you up at five in the morning to tell you all of that. Loudly and enthusiastically,” Finn added, still facing the shelving as he stuck on another piece of tape. Yeah, see, that’s why I hadn’t trusted him to answer that question.

Rory and Blaine both went paler and paler as that whole episode of word vomit spewed from Finn. I just turned to them and rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to go whap Finn upside the head. I had lots of practice resisting that urge, really, so it was nothing new. He was practically my big brother after all, even if we only saw each other during the summer.

“Finn, stop scaring the new people before they even meet the campers. If you run them off, I’m not helping you run the cabin all summer with just the two of us,” I mock-threatened before adding, towards the other guys, “It’s really not that bad. Someone will probably say most of that, but not all at once. Spread it out over the seven weeks these guys are here. And in the meantime they’ll say a lot of hilariously random things.”

Finn turned around with an abashed look on his face. “Oh! I didn’t really mean to scare all of you.” He moved to help me spread a blanket evenly over the bed. “They do say some of the funniest things without realizing it. Do you remember the summer we had a kid trying to convince everyone that chocolate would kill him?”

“Oh God. Yes. Because apparently chocolate is full of arsenic and will kill you! He was eight or nine at that point, right? Because I remember he grew past it by the time he came back the next summer.”

I moved down to check this kid’s trunk for anything else we should unpack for him, since I’d finished his bed. “Oh, man. I think I may have a soft spot for, um, Liam already.” I held up a little sweater vest to show the other guys. Rory and I were busy getting things settled for the four guys who were riding the bus up from the New York City area, since they were such little guys. All their stuff got shipped up earlier since the bus wouldn’t hold a full summer’s worth for every kid on it very well. The rest of the kids would have their parents help them unpack. “Ooh. He’s got some adorable little button down shirts in here as well.”

Blaine leaned over to peek in, distracted from all the nervousness over Finn’s stories by this. “That is very cute. It’s interesting to imagine these guys will be like from the clothes they packed. From the size of those, at least we know Liam is going to be more my build than Finn’s.” Blaine’s tone was a bit tentative still, unsure of himself, but at least he was trying. I could see a big difference in how open he was, with me at least, after our conversation last night.

“I think I’ll prefer this one. He brought cleats.” Rory held up a small pair of soccer shoes from the trunk he was looking through. “Kyle obviously appreciates real sports.”

I rolled my eyes over towards the Irish counselor. “Ah, your biases are showing already. If we’re going to have a grand fight over sports, can I put in my vote for archery? It’s a gentleman’s sport. No nasty sweating involved,” I teased, carefully pulling out the shoes from Liam’s trunk, putting them onto the shelf under the bed. “Oh good. He did at least bring a pair of sneakers and water shoes, along with the stylish but not so camp appropriate loafers.”

“Football is the only real sport worth mentioning,” Rory noted, apparently distracted as well from his earlier fear. Good. “And not the crazy version you Yanks play.”

Thankfully, Nick arrived right at that moment with a stuffed dog clasped in his hands. That may well have been the only thing that kept that from breaking out into a riot between Rory and Finn over the proper meaning of the word football.

“Nick! I’m so glad you’re here.” I didn’t even try for a pretense at subtlety. “Did you get a new pet?” I let the teasing sarcasm show clearly in my voice as I gestured to the stuffed animal before grinning at the fact that I could hear Blaine’s soft laughter about the joke.

“Hah. Very funny.” Nick rolled his eyes as he glanced around the room then headed straight for one trunk. “You’ve got my littlest brother this year, Alex. He was here for the last three weeks last summer, but now he’ll tell you he’s quite big enough to be here the full summer like Dan and I.”

“Right. They all think they’re such big tough guys,” Finn piped in with amusement. “But what does that have to do with the dog?”

“Alex sleeps with, like, a whole bed full of stuffed animals at home, especially when he’s sad or upset. He refused to let Mom pack any of them. Said that he’s much too old to need a stuffed animal at camp.” Nick rolled his eyes at that, tucking the stuffed dog down between layers of t-shirts in his brother’s trunk. “Mom sent one of them up with me in case he needs it.”

“We’ll keep it on the down low unless he does,” Finn promised, turning to glance around the cabin. “Let’s hang up those name plates, Blaine, and then I think we’re ready.”

* * *

 

Lunch was a rather more hurried affair that day. Food had been grilled up, and we were eating outside. since the dining hall was all set up for check in already. Parents were supposed to start arriving at two with the bus pulling in at four. Which of course meant that the parents would start pouring in by one.

I watched Blaine tug at the neck of his junior staff polo for a moment before I shook my head and walked over, plate in hand, to sit next to him at a picnic table. “Blaine, relax.”

“I can’t.” Blaine shifted in place, only a bite or two gone from his cheeseburger. “What if I’m horrible at this? I could scar one of them for life. For life.” He looked over at me only to wrinkle his nose at my quiet chuckling. “Don’t laugh, Kurt! It could happen.”

I tried to control the laughter, really I did, but the look on Blaine’s face? It was worth some. “You’re not going to scar a kid for life, promise. I bet they’ll love you. Being close to their size and all,” I teased lightly. I’d been trying to work a few into our conversation lately, get Blaine used to friendly teasing.

“Gee yes. Short jokes always make me feel better.” I was rather proud of the sarcasm instead of hurt in Blaine’s tone. And really, it did seem to be kind of true. He’d stopped fiddling with his collar to reach out for a chip instead.

“I know! Because I’m nothing but awesome.” I gave Blaine by best ‘haughty royalty’ look before I added more seriously. “Honestly? You’re going to screw up sometimes. That’s part of being a CIT. What’s important is that you learn from it so don’t keep screwing up the same way. That’s why you don’t get left alone with campers unless it’s a desperate emergency.” And just in case he got triggered by something again. Probably best not to mention that, though. “If you listen and show the guys you care, they’ll like you. Easy as that.”

“Right. Right. You’ve screwed up?”

“Contrary to popular opinion and rumors, mainly ones started by me, I am not actually perfect,” I noted. “For example, one of my campers was being a real jackwagon last summer, and I snapped at him. Not my best moment.” I hate how easily I turn red admitting anything. Time to cover that up with a food break and my veggieburger, since it is lunchtime and all.

“Jackwagon? Really?” Blaine gave me an amused look at that. At least he was no longer looking quite so worried and tense.

* * *

 

“Hi, I’m Kurt. Can I help you with that?” I asked giving a friendly grin to the family Wes had pointed me towards. “Are you going to Cabin 3?”

“I am! It’s my very first time here, but I came to see it last year. I’m staying all summer long! Are you my counselor? Do we get to go swimming? I can’t wait to go swimming. I swim like a fish through the water.” I grinned down at the kid, who, my God, was a spitting image of what I imagine Blaine looked like at that age, with big brown eyes and loose curly brown hair. The only big difference? I wish Blaine could be this bubbly and excited, instead of anxious all the time.

“I’ll be working with your cabin. Your counselors are named Finn and Rory, and they’re awesome,” I informed the kid squatting to get a bit closer to his level. “See the different color of shirts the staff are wearing?” I pulled at the sleeve of my own. “The white shirts are all the counselors and staff. The green ones are the Junior Counselors and Counselors in Training. We get to help the counselors with a cabin, and I get to help with yours.”

“Cool! I’ve got a new tennis racket in my bag,” the kid confided in me as I straightened up to smile over to his parents, trying not to do a double take at fact that he had two moms. I wouldn’t want everyone to always act surprised at my family when I find a fabulous man to raise kids with someday.

One of the women gave the boy an affectionate look before speaking up. “And if we leave him be, he’ll give you a run through of every item in his bag, I’m sure. The excited one here is Jared. I’m Sally and this is Lynn, but really, we’re probably better known as Jared’s moms.”

I moved to help her grab the trunk with a laugh. “I think that happens with a lot of parents. The cabin is this way. Jared, can you find cabin three for us there?”

“Yeah! Oh hey! They all have big welcome signs! Is my name on ours?” I swear that kid must be related to Tigger. Or Jeff on caffeine. Either way, he was practically bouncing as he led us to the right end of the horseshoe of cabins.

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing as the boy burst into the cabin with a declaration of “I found it!” Or maybe it was the wide eyed look I could see on Blaine’s face. Both of them really qualified as funny. “Oh look! My bed!” I could just imagine the many nights of trying to convince Jared that camp beds were not big enough to jump on. It was tiring already.

I kept it down to soft laughter as I helped Jared’s moms get his things to his bed. He’d already started to talk to the boy next to him about everything he wanted to do at camp. Or more realistically, he’d started talking at the other kid, who seemed more the reserved type. I glanced at the name tag behind the bed. Jared might physically look like Blaine, but this boy, Seth, had his anxious expression. I considered a side bet with Finn on whether Seth would be in tears with homesickness tonight, but I didn’t want to just take his money.

Instead, I snagged Blaine’s arm and tugged him towards the counselor room at the back of the cabin, whispering a quiet ‘sorry’ when he flinched at the touch.

Each cabin had a main room for the campers, a simple bathroom with toilet stalls and sinks (another building had shared showers for  the campers), and a smaller counselor’s room. Blaine and I had left a few things in there today. I snagged my waterbottle as soon as we walked in and collapsed on Finn’s bunk. He wouldn’t mind, and it left the empty cot that would become mine midsummer for Blaine to perch on.

“Shouldn’t we be out there?” he asked me, biting at his bottom lip.

“Everyone is entitled to water breaks. Even you. I know you can’t tote bags around, but don’t get dehydrated,” I pointed out, sticking my tongue out at Blaine for the ‘yes mother’ I got in reply. “Besides Rory is out there. How’re you doing?”

“Good. I think. I haven’t said anything _too_ embarrassing yet. We only have, what, one more camper besides the bus riders?” Despite his reaction to the suggestion, Blaine dug through his backpack to pull out his own water bottle.

“Yep. That last one I brought in is either going to be hilarious or exhausting. Probably both. Is it bad that I get kind of excited seeing happy non-traditional families?” I toed off my sandals, sinking back against the wall. Despite the chill when I’d woken up that morning, it was hot out now, at least if you were helping to lug heavy trunks around.

“I don’t think so. Kind of gives me hope for the future. I mean, I think I could want that myself someday.” Blaine paused for a sip of water before he shook his head. “If this whole experience doesn’t scar me for life and make me never want to see a kid again let alone have one of my own someday.”

“What is it with you and things scarring people for life today?” I joked, eyeing the crazy zigzag of light and dark skin my feet from my Chacos for a moment. “Man, I’m getting tan already. I should put more sunscreen on.” I dug in my bag for a tube of it. “Unless this ends up just being a camp tan.”

“Camp tan? Is that like tan lines from what you wear here? Your sandals are kind of crazy.” Blaine pointed out, tucking his water bottle back away.

“Crazy comfortable, in and out of water. But no. A camp tan is when you think you’ve picked up a tan, but then you take a shower and realize it was just dirt.” I smirked at the rather disgusted look on Blaine’s face at that. I think I’d had the exact same one the first time I learned that term. Or had it happen even if I was the age of these campers. “Anyway, if you want to head back out, I’ll join you once I’m re-sunscreened up. It’s a big day, after all. Wouldn’t do to become a lobster.”


	7. Chapter 7

The week was going pretty well so far. I think. I may be a horrible person, however, because I will readily admit to letting Finn deal with Seth’s tears when they inevitably cropped up. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t take money from him betting on whether Seth would be homesick.

It’s only Wednesday, but I’m already pretty sure that if I make it back as a full counselor next year, I won’t be requesting to work with the little guys. They’re cute, but I definitely prefer my kayaking and archery classes with the older kids. Maybe the kids will grow on me once they’re more settled in. Please?

We had been doing rolls with the more advanced kayakers last period, and of course, the counselors’d nominated me to demonstrate. I’d ended up completely soaked through, so I’d had to run straight back to my cabin to change before I could come help with the down time before dinner. Well, honestly, it’s not like I wouldn’t have to change anyway. There’s no way I’m showing up to dinner in a rash guard and board shorts. No freaking way. Not even at camp.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I had to fix this mood. There wasn’t really time for yoga in the grass, though maybe tomorrow morning before flag raising. I could take a few deep breaths to center myself, though. I thought through everything. In the end, I decided that it was just the shiny-ness of the summer wearing off. I’d been here more than a week, and it wasn’t novel anymore. I needed to find something to lift my mood.

Walking into the bunk, that something was so easy to find. I paused in the doorframe with wide eyes for a just a moment before I completely cracked up laughing. Cabin 3 had apparently become the designated home of a dance party. I could spot Finn over to one side manning an iPod with speakers, but Blaine was out in the middle of the room, dancing wildly with a cluster of little kids in the space between cots.

To top it all off? Blaine was belting the number, something I didn’t recognize but that sounded very Radio Disney like. Seth, shy, homesick Seth, had grabbed his unbroken hand to dance around with Blaine, a look of hero worship in his eyes. It was certainly a good change from the tears.

Finn spotted me at the doorframe and put a finger to his lips. I nodded back to him. This was much too good to interrupt.

I’ll have to admit, the dancing skills of our guys varied quite widely. Jared was obviously enthusiastic about it, of course. His dancing reminded me of what I’ve seen of Finn’s attempts over the years, i.e. lots of flailing about. Liam of the sweater vests could apparently bust quite the move, on the other hand.

I’ll also have to admit, I was impressed with Blaine’s voice. Sure the song was cheesy pop, but I could listen to cheesy pop all day if it was Blaine singing it. I should have guessed he could sing, with the theater background and all, but there’s a difference between being able to sing and being able to _sing._  Blaine fell into the second category, at least in my probably biased opinion.

It had been amazing this week to watch him come out of his shell around the campers. Blaine was still tentative as hell with most of the staff, but apparently he wasn’t worried about the reaction of nine-year-olds. Or Finn. It felt like I was getting peeks at the real Blaine as I watched him open up and do silly things with them. I feel like I suck at talking little kid sometimes, but Blaine? He’s a natural. I mean, he’s got all ten of them engaged and not snotty or crying right now.

The song ended, and Finn shut off the music. He nodded over towards me, giving me my cue. I took it, clapping loudly, realizing I had a big, goofy smile on my face. “Nice dancing guys!”

“Kurt!” I swear it pretty much went up in unison as I was suddenly swarmed by excited little people. “Did you see us dancing?” “We’re good right?” “We cleaned the cabin! It’s all neat!” “I swam out to the dock!” “Want to see what I made in crafts?” I had no idea who said what, really. I guess it’s good they at least liked me?

“Whoa, whoa. Let Kurt breath.” Finn stepped in at last, moving out into the cabin. “You’re going to smother him with questions.”

Blaine grinned over, loose and open in a way he so very rarely had been so far. He’d sagged down onto the closest cot to catch his breath. “Maybe you should ask Kurt to dance with you instead,” he suggested with an equally rare teasing look over to me.

“Yeah, Kurt! You should dance with us! We cleaned the cabin so it’s not a disaster. Now we get to bust a move.” Nick’s little brother Alex reached out to grab my hand and yank me over.

“Fine, fine, but only if Blaine joins in again.” I shot him a teasing look right back then nodded over to Finn. “If you will, DJ?”

* * *

 

We’d danced until it was time to head out to flag, all laughing and sweaty. Maybe it wasn’t exactly a neat, tidy look for dinner time, but I knew Schue wouldn’t care. He’d much rather we’d engaged with the campers and had a good time than that everything looked a certain way. It was camp. We had at least gotten the little germ factories to wash their hands.

We’d finished the flag ceremony and the kids were streaming into the dining hall when Blaine actually reached out to pull me aside, for a change. I don’t know what had gotten into him today, but I liked the confidence.

“I, um, I was hoping you could do something for me.” Blaine gave me hopeful eyes. I’m not really sure that I could say no to those eyes whatever he was asking, especially since he was actually asking.

“What do you need?” We only had a few moments if we wanted to get in there before grace. Not that I minded missing grace, not being religious and all, but our camp just did a moment of silence. If we were late, I’d have to explain to Schue.

“I have to go into Hanover tomorrow, to go to the doctor for my arm. One of the ULs is driving, but Wes said I could take another CIT or JC with me. Will you come?” Really, Blaine has the whole puppy dog eye thing down really well. “I mean, if you’d rather stay here, I could ask Nick or Mike or someone, but I’d rather have you with me.”

“A trip to Hanover? I bet I could talk the UL into stopping for ice cream on the way back, at least. I’m in,” I responded with a grin. “And not just for the ice cream. I’ll be there whenever you need me, as best I can. You just have to keep asking,” I promised then turned towards the door. “Now we better find our table before we’re late.”

* * *

 

Wes apparently couldn’t get away the next day, so his friend David, the seniors Unit Leader, drove us after clean up. David had been one of my counselors when I was 14 and 15, before he became a UL, so I knew him well. Blaine had only met the guy a few times. I hoped that didn’t bite us in the ass in the long run.

I tried to push Blaine into sitting shotgun, but he wasn’t having any of it. That’s how we ended up driving towards Hanover with Blaine sitting in the back, and me sitting up in the front with David.

It didn’t take long for the drive to end up being David and I singing along to whatever popped up on the radio, sometimes together, sometimes taking turns. Now that I knew how well Blaine could sing, I tried to pull him into it as well, to no avail.

When we pulled up outside the hospital, David gathered together a bunch of paperwork before he led us in. “Your parents had your records sent here. They signed pretty broad consent forms for us,” David noted.

Blaine just shrugged. “Sounds like my dad.” His tone, and our past conversations, told me he didn’t really expect his dad to want to be involved.

I glanced over to him, wishing I could reach out and touch his arm or shoulder in comfort. I knew he wouldn’t appreciate it though, especially in public. “What’s our first stop here?”

“The doctor wants us to go to radiology so they can get an x-ray to see how well Blaine’s arm is healing. Then we’ll come back this afternoon to actually see him,” David said after checking his folder of forms.

“So if they’re not backed up for taking the x-ray, does that mean we’ll have time to go to campus town for lunch?” I asked hopefully.

“I sure hope so. Or I was thinking maybe taking food to that dock on the Connecticut?” David suggested before he moved up to get us checked in and sent to the right waiting room.

I watched Blaine again on the way. All that confidence from yesterday seemed to be gone, out here in the real world. He was closed in on himself, eyes towards the ground. I could probably count on my fingers the number of words he’d spoken since we’d gotten into the car.

Blaine and I took quiet seats in the waiting room, and hey, at least they had the Ellen show on to watch. David took some time checking Blaine in for the x-ray, showing several of the different papers from this folder.  A few minutes later he came over to join us, and the two of us made crack comments back and forth about the show. A few minutes after that, Blaine was called back. He shook his head at me when I asked him if he wanted me to come back with him, and disappeared with the nurse.

David sank back into his chair as we waited for Blaine to be finished. “He’s a quiet one. Kind of jumpy. I can see why Wes insisted to me that he needed to bring a friend.”

“He’s quiet because he doesn’t know you. Blaine doesn’t trust easily, and I don’t blame him. He’s had a hard time with bullies at home.” That was as much of Blaine’s story as I’d tell, even to someone I’d had my share of talks with over the years, back when he was my counselor. “You should see him with our campers though. He’s a natural with the younger ones. I guess he’s not afraid they’re going to turn around and hurt him.”

“No one should have to be afraid of that.”

“No. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t lots of us out there who are. Just give him time to trust you? Please?” I may not have Blaine level puppy dog eyes, but I gave David an entreating look.

“Alright. I won’t push, you either.” Yeah, it was my luck that he’d noticed I’d included myself in that, without even thinking about it. “I promise to be nice and non-scary. But next year, I hope I might see you back as a counselor of one of the senior cabins. Seems like you’re as much Blaine’s counselor as friend right now. You’re doing good. I would have taken you this year if you weren’t too young.”

I flushed pink at that bit of praise, stupid pale skin. “I’d like to be able to be just his friend.” I latched onto that part of it, considering that. “I hope that as the summer goes on he’ll need me less as a counselor-type.” I wanted to help Blaine, truly. But more than anything with him, I wanted to get to a point where we were equals in relying on each other. Then maybe I wouldn’t feel so awkward about how gorgeous I thought his eyes were.

Thankfully, David changed the subject bringing me out of my thoughts. “I was serious about going to that dock on the Connecticut, even if it probably technically belongs to Dartmouth. Never stopped me before. We could go to that basement place with the wraps and burritos on the way?”

* * *

 

We’d followed through on that plan, and a half an hour later, I had my sandals off and my feet dipped into the river. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the low eighties. I had a whole-wheat tortilla filled with Caeser salad, and life was good. Life was good even if I was still playing intermediary between David and a quiet Blaine.

“I’m just saying that I think you’re rather crazy for missing spending days at a time in the woods,” I told David. “I mean, you have to dig a hole just to go number two. I don’t miss that kind of trip. I’d much rather go on a day kayak trip. Plus, there’s the whole adrenaline rush when you get out on rougher water.”

“But there’s the challenge of pushing yourself to your limits out on the trail,” David shot back. “It’s just you and nature. That semester I took off to hike the Appalachian Trail is still one of the best experiences of my life.”

That made Blaine look up from his burrito and actually join the conversation looking across me to talk to David. “The Appalachian Trail? Isn’t that really long?”

“Yeah. It was my sophomore year of college. I started in January in Georgia and finished up in Maine right in time to come to camp,” David said proudly.

“We made jokes the whole summer about how horrible all his gear smelled,” I noted, remembering my last summer as a camper. “You can tell thru hikers on the trail from day hikers by the smell emanating off them. See? That’s another point for kayaking. You get wet so the sweat doesn’t build up as much.”

“Hah, hah,” David said dryly. “I did wash my clothes before you lot got up there to torment me.” He crumpled the paper from his burrito and looked over to Blaine. “Maybe you can settle this for us. Hiking trip or kayaking trip?”

Being put on the spot like that made Blaine gulp. “I- I don’t know? I mean, I’ve not really ever done either. Cooper tried taking me hiking a few times. It didn’t go that well, but lots of things with us were like that.”

I nodded, remembering that one of the reasons Blaine had been hesitant to be at camp this summer was because he thought we’d all be like his brother. “Well, when you get that cast off your arm, I’ll teach you some kayaking basics. Or at least take you canoeing. Then you’ll have a better comparison.” I leaned over, invading Blaine’s space just a bit to drop my voice, but not so far that David wouldn’t be able to hear me. “But you know I’m right.”

That got laughter out of both David and Blaine before the UL glanced down at his watch. “Finish up. It’s almost time for us to get back to the hospital for Blaine’s appointment.”

* * *

 

This time David asked to come back, so he could ‘report to Blaine’s father later’. At the look of panic on Blaine’s face at all of this, I added myself to the group. That was how all three of us managed to find ourselves in a room in the outpatient section of the hospital as the doctor stepped inside, bringing someone closer to David’s age with him as well.

“Thank you for waiting so patiently. I’m Doctor Miller, and this is Alice, one of our medical students. She’ll be shadowing me today.” He glanced over the three of us before smiling kindly to Blaine. “You must be Blaine. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve looked over your file and x-rays.” He turned to David with a curious glance. “You must be the camp’s representative?”

“Yes. I’m David. And this is one of Blaine’s friends, Kurt. He came along for moral support.” David had found a spot near the door, while I’d claimed one next to Blaine. It seemed pretty fitting for the day so far.

“Well, it’s nice to meet all of you. I had a chance to look over the x-rays,” the doctor noted, passing a folder with them over towards the med student. “You had surgery at Nationwide Children’s in Columbus?”

Blaine took a deep, steadying breath before he replied. I could see just how not okay with talking about this he was. It was awkward just knowing that I had to witness it, let alone David. At least I pretty well knew the story. Having David find out might be part of what made Blaine so antsy to talk about it. “Yes. That’s where I was after the atta… that’s where the ambulance took me, even though I’m not a little kid.”

I could see the med student hold back a laugh at that last part, but the doctor just nodded. “You’d never be able to count how many teenagers I’m heard say that over the years. It looks like your doctors did good work though, even though you’re not a little kid.”

Blaine let out a rush of air. “Does that mean I’ll get the cast off?” he asked hopefully. I could only imagine how frustrating it must be to go through camp life without use of your dominant arm.

The doctor shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. Not entirely. What I can do though is change out that cast for a shorter one. If the incisions from the surgery and the compound fracture are healing well, I can line the new cast with a material water won’t damage though. That way you don’t have to worry about getting it wet. I don’t know if I’d go swimming in it, but with a fiberglass cast with the right lining even falling in the lake wouldn’t hurt you.”

The doctor pulled an x-ray out of the folder, holding it up to the light to show the med student. “This is a different break pattern than you would typically encounter in a teenager. Most teenage broken arms are caused by falls or car accidents, but this seems to have been intentionally broken. The original physician thinks that someone purposely stomped on it at least twice, resulting in the multiple breaks.”

I reached out for Blaine’s hand as I watched the smile from the earlier news about the new cast fade, along with most of the color on his face as the doctor talked to the med student. “Stay with me,” I whispered over. “If you get that new cast, I can take you out in a canoe later this week when our free periods line up.” I coaxed Blaine through a few deep breaths as the doctor explained the need to still support his wrist for a few more weeks in a cast, while his radius and ulna didn’t need the longer cast anymore with the plates in them.

“You saw your neurologist for clearance before you left Ohio?” Blaine nodded his head, not answering the doctor aloud. “Your concussion shouldn’t be holding you back from physical clearance for camp activities either, then, as long as you’re not having headaches or dizziness.”

Soon enough the doctor was sawing the cast off. Blaine refused an offer to let him keep it and stared instead at the scar along the side of his arm. You could tell the difference between the neat surgical incision and the prior damage, where the bone had broken through the skin. “Scars add character,” I told Blaine softly, managing to get a small smile in return.

“I don’t want to see it and always have to remember. Or know what I don’t remember, as the case may be,” he told me, keeping his tone low enough that hopefully David couldn’t hear, as we waited for the doctor to return with the new casting materials.

I nodded over with understanding. I’d felt the same way before about bruises across my back, and that hadn’t been from anything as traumatic or permanent. I cleared my throat and looked over to David, who was busy pretending like he wasn’t there, I think. “So, doesn’t all of this call for ice cream on the way home? Fat Bob’s is barely out of the way,” I wheedled. Ice cream could fix anything, right?

* * *

 

That was what found us pulling into camp in the late afternoon, with drips of ice cream on David’s shirt and a brand new, but equally bright red, cast on Blaine’s arm. I felt like it had been one big step forward yesterday only to take two steps back today until I saw the remaining tension leave Blaine’s face as we pulled as the camp car pulled up to the office. Maybe it was two steps forward.


	8. Chapter 8

One of the great things about still being in the leadership cabin is not having to get kids up in the morning. Instead, I rolled over groggily at the first bell, grabbing a sweatshirt to pull on over my pajamas and my kit to stumble down to the bathroom.

I leaned over the sink, staring at my skin in the small mirror. It was already getting dry. I was going to have a hell of time getting it back to a properly moisturized state in the fall. I doubted it would really be any worse than last year, but still, I didn’t have to like it. Just because it was worth it, didn’t mean it was great.

I pulled lotion out of my bathroom kit and started to smooth it into my face. I keep telling myself that it’s worth stumbling straight down at first bell to get this done before all the guys are piling in here ribbing me for it.

I’d not even noticed the sound of a shower running until it shut off. Probably just Sam after another early morning run.

I glanced over out of habit as the shower curtain opened. I’m not sure if I should be glad I did, or wish I never had. It wasn’t Sam, after all. It was Blaine who stepped out, with a towel wrapped around his hips.

Blaine flushed almost as red as his cast as he spotted me trying not to stare and hurried to the stall where he’d apparently left his clothes.

I had tried not to stare, but oh my God. I’ll admit that I lived with some good looking boys.  Mike and Sam both had amazing bodies, after all. I saw them changing all the time, though, without wanting to stare. Maybe it was because they felt sort of like brothers or because I knew they were off limits.

Neither of those things was true about Blaine. He wasn’t as muscular as Mike or Sam, but he was definitely in good shape. There was nothing wrong with his fit and toned build, especially with water glistening off it. It took Blaine’s voice calling out to me to make me snap out of that reverie, and to remind me of why I couldn’t push Blaine into a relationship. Or follow through on a desire to lick that water off his body. Oh no. Had I turned into a pervert?

“Kurt?” The voice from the stall was tentative enough to remind me of why I couldn’t let Blaine know that I was attracted to him. He wasn’t ready for even a summer fling right now. “Can I talk to you?”

“Of course. When have I ever said no to that?” I pointed out, staring over to my reflection in the mirror for a moment, steadying myself. I guess I do have the hormones of a teenage boy after all. “What’s up?”

“I-“ Blaine paused for a moment, and the rustling I could hear of him getting dressed wasn’t really helping my imagination that much. “There’s no one else here, right? How well do you know David?”

That was not the question I was expecting, well, the second one at least. “Just us. We’ve probably got five minutes or so before the rest of the guys bombard the place to pee, so it’ll have to be quick.” I tucked the lotion back into my bathroom kit, grabbing my comb out. “David? Fairly well. He was my counselor for two years when I was a teenager. Why?”

“He heard things yesterday,” Blaine stated so softly I was glad I hadn’t turned the sink on. “I just, I can’t deal with it if he tells everyone about me breaking down or about what happened. It’s embarrassing enough for it to have happened in front of you, and I trust you.”

It might be a little bit sad how warm inside Blaine admitting he trusts me made me feel. “I don’t think David would spread it around. He might tell Wes, but he wouldn’t tell the whole camp. If I wasn’t pretty sure Wes and David are straight, I’d think they were together.”

“Then what if Wes starts treating me differently?” Blaine opened the stall door, stepping out in jeans and hoodie with his pajamas all wrapped up in his towel. He glanced around the room quickly to make sure no one else was there before he continued on. “I’ve been thinking long and hard about coming out to some of the staff this summer, but even then, I wouldn’t want to tell them all about what happened to me.”

I’ll admit to being distracted from the conversation for just a moment by Blaine’s hair. I knew it was curly under the gel he usually wore, but I didn’t realize quite how curly it would be right out of the shower. It was utterly adorable. Man, where was my mind this morning?

In reality, it was probably only a moment’s hesitation and a murmur of ‘Your hair looks really good that way,’ before I was back with the previous topic. “Wes is Wes. He’ll be just as officiously caring no matter what he knows. I was worried that he’d treat me differently, too, after I told him this summer about how bad the bullying really is at home. He hasn’t. I’ll talk to David though, and Wes if I need to, if you’d like?” I glanced over to get a nod in response from Blaine and not a single response about the hair. “And if you ever do decide to come out, even just to a few other friends, I’ll be there supporting you.”

That was all that I got out into the conversation. Whatever Blaine had meant to say in reply was halted by the ringing of the second bell. Jeff and a few other CITs stumbled into the bathroom with their toothbrushes, and it was no longer our own little haven to talk.

* * *

 

After breakfast was cabin cleanup in our little structured camp day. I never left my things a mess, so it seemed like a good time to corner David, and maybe Wes.

I wasn’t at all surprised that Wes was with David when I found him on the way out of the dining hall. They did tend to be rather joined at the hip.

“Morning, David,” I greeted rather cheerfully. I had managed to snag a cup of coffee at breakfast. It’s amazing what that will do to improve your morning.

“Morning, Kurt. Need something? Or just being a ray of sunshine on a summer day?” David opened up with a tease.

“Hah. I was actually wondering if you had time to talk. About yesterday.” I glanced over to Wes’s reaction. By the lack of surprise on his face, I assumed David had already told Wes all about it. “Both of you, if you know, Wes?”

“Of course. David can hold off on harassing his counselors for a few minutes, and you are my charge, after all,” Wes stated, pretty much admitting that he knew it all. “Why don’t we go down to the dock for some privacy?”

As we settled down, it called back memories of lunch on another dock the day before. I didn’t even bother slipping off my sandals this time, they could get wet. Instead, I just rolled up the legs of my pants and stuck my feet down in the water with a shiver. It felt good, if freezing. It also gave me a moment to collect my thoughts before I had to start in with this. It was so much easier to promise Blaine to talk to them than to actually sit down two people who were my superiors in the camp hierarchy to do this.

“So I ran into Blaine this morning. He’s still feeling really embarrassed about everything that might have come to light at the doctor’s yesterday. Probably even more so because he pretty much broke down,” I started, sitting shoulder to shoulder between David and Wes. How had they ended up flanking me?

They shared a look over my head then David shrugged. “From what I heard, he doesn’t have anything to be embarrassed about, Kurt,” David pointed out. I’d agree with him, personally, but that didn’t change Blaine’s feelings. “I had to talk to someone about it, so I did tell Wes. I assumed at first that he already knew.”

“And you both know I won’t spread it on,” Wes interjected. “We’re not going to sacrifice Blaine to the camp gossip mill.”

“He feels really touchy about this. I guess I understand that. I know the two of you aren’t going to go off spreading this around, but Blaine doesn’t. He doesn’t _know_  you.” I paused for a moment, kicking at the water with sandaled feet.

I wasn’t going to out Blaine, but maybe I could help them get it a bit better. “You have to understand what it does to you to be bullied like that. Blaine spent months with people telling him every day that he is a horrible person. Every day with people shoving him or calling him slurs for just being who he is. I’ve been there. You start to doubt yourself. You start to worry that maybe you _are_ all those things. You watch people wondering how long it’s going to take before they turn on you, too. All of that for months on end just because you’re daring to walk down the halls of your own high school. And then for Blaine it didn’t end there. At the end of the year, a group of kids beat the shit out of Blaine and his friend.”

David winced at that. “No wonder he looks like a puppy who expects that someone’s going to aim a kick his way sometimes.”

“He looks that way a lot less than he did a week ago," Wes noted, looking over to me with understanding. I know that he knew why I could understand all those feelings.

“I think he’s healing, but it’s not something that happens overnight. Being with the campers helps. It’s something he’s truly good at, and he can trust that they aren’t going to turn against him and start picking on him as soon as they really get to know him,” I added before I glanced between the two of them. “Please don’t start treating him differently. He doesn’t need or want pity, just support. I understand that. It’s one reason I don’t share often at camp how truly horrible my high school life is. I don’t want people pitying me for something neither of us can change.”

“I hate the thought that in August I’m sending the two of you home to be picked on,” Wes shared with his own kick at the water.

“Maybe Blaine at least has a hope that will change. His dad isn’t sending him back to a school where he got beat up. Maybe he’ll end up somewhere not as awful.” I paused for a second to stand, not bothering to roll the legs of my pants back down. “Nine more months. I graduate in nine more months, and then I will never ever have to see those kids again.” I glanced out over the lake, taking in the beauty of nature, the calm of the water’s surface. “I should go sunscreen up before I head to a morning of thrilling archery classes.”

* * *

 

It was two more days before our free time aligned enough for me to follow through on my promise of taking Blaine out in a canoe. It aligned really well, too, because we had a good chunk of time at a good time of day.

The whole camp was in the playhouse watching a movie after dinner. That made it a good time to give the CITs and JCs all time off. Some of the guys had chosen to sprawl in the back to watch the movie together. A bunch more were taking a basketball over to the court. Blaine and I had been invited, but I didn’t really love playing basketball, to be honest, and Blaine couldn’t play with his cast. It was a perfect time for me to talk him into a canoe ride.

After changing into swim gear, Blaine met me at the beach. I tossed him a lifejacket with a grin. “Can’t let you come all this way only to drown in the lake,” I teased gently, grabbing my own. A benefit of being almost waterfront staff was that I could bring and stash a lifejacket of my own, which just might match my rash guards and swim trunks.

Blaine caught the jacket with a quick laugh. It had been a good day for Blaine today, I’d noticed. “I can swim. Now that I’ve got a shorter cast, I bet I could even swim quite well,” Blaine pointed out before he took a teasing tone to mimic mine. “Besides, aren’t you a lifeguard?” Despite the teasing, he snapped the life jacket on over the plain white t-shirt he was wearing.

I apparently wasn’t lucky enough tonight for him to decide to peel off the shirt for the trip. Honestly, I don’t know what’s up with my hormones lately. It’s like they’ve finally decided I’m a seventeen year old guy. Ever since I’d gotten that five second glance of Blaine in a towel a few days ago, it had barely left my mind. I wished there was someone here I could talk to about it, but I couldn’t do that without outing Blaine.

“That’s why it would look so bad if I let you drown,” I pointed out, laughing as I plunged waist deep into the cold water moving to the rack the canoes rested on. Maybe I didn’t have to go quite that deep to get to the canoes, but it did serve other purposes. “Come help me get one down?” I glanced over towards his feet. “Leave the water shoes on. You don’t want to get cut by one of the mussels on your foot. Really sucks.”

“Yes mother,” Blaine said with a playful roll of his eyes. “I know that. Who do you think makes the boys wear theirs when I’m with the cabin?” Blaine splashed in after me towards the wooden frame sticking up from the shallow part of the lake that the canoes rested on.

We got a canoe flipped off the stand, and I directed Blaine towards the front, slipping a paddle under his seat. “Just in case. I should be able to do the paddling tonight though. I’ll bring you back to teach you some strokes when you get that cast off and can really hold the paddle correctly.” I slipped into the back seat and pushed off of the sandy shore.

It was rather more strain on my arms to paddle by myself with Blaine in it that when I’d done the same for Seth yesterday. He’d been too scared to go out with a friend, so I’d talked him into a canoe with me. It was quite the opposite problem from getting Jared and Kyle to focus on something besides trying to soak each other with lake water.

“It’s like having my own personal chauffeur. I suppose I could get used to this,” Blaine noted, making a point of pretending to chill back in the canoe.

“Hah hah. You’re a regular comedian tonight,” I teased over, dipping a hand into the lake to splash water up at him, just like I’d stopped Jared from doing.

Blaine sputtered a bit and then broke down laughing. “And you’re just the height of maturity, splash boy.”

I purposely rocked the canoe a bit, shifting my weight from side to side. “I could be capsize boy, if you’d like.”

“Oooh. Scary lake fish might just eat me if you do,” Blaine shot back before he let out a happy sigh. “This is kind of wonderful. It’s so peaceful out here.”

I paddled on, aiming to take us out towards the middle of the mile long lake. “And we’ve timed it perfectly. This is the absolute best spot on camp to watch the sun set.”

Oh God. I’d set us up on a rather romantic outing. What part of my subconscious had decided that was a good idea? It was moments like these, though, that kept making me fall harder for Blaine: the moments when he was just being himself. I loved watching Blaine relax. Someday he’d be like this most of the time, and then I could make my move. I just couldn’t feel like I was taking advantage of his reliance on me to push him into something he might not truly want.

“I do enjoy a good sunset.” Blaine admitted reaching over with his non-casted hand to trail his fingers in the water. “So, let’s talk about something other than camp and what crazy things I’ve stopped the boys from getting into today.”

“I’m sure those are all wonderful stories, but sure. Hmm. How about the future? What do you plan to be when you grow up?” I asked over, deciding we were far enough out. I tucked the paddle over my legs, looking up towards Blaine, or at least the back of his head. The only awkward thing about this chat in a canoe thing was that he had to turn around for me to see his face.

“I’m not really sure. I’ve considered performance, but I don’t know if I want to make a career out of it.” Blaine shrugged. “Cooper’s in LA still trying to find acting jobs, mostly unsuccessfully. I’m not sure that’s really me. My dad wants me to become a businessman or a lawyer. I couldn’t see myself in business, but maybe law. Not the kind my dad would want, I’m sure. But maybe working for someplace like the ACLU, fighting for people’s rights. I might decide to become a teacher, though. Maybe a music teacher. I really like the kids.”

“You’re good with them. Music huh? I know you sing really well, but do you play instruments, too?” It was nice getting to know more about Blaine on a non-camp or horrible life experiences level.

“I’ve been playing piano since I was a little kid, and since I started high school, I’ve been working on learning guitar.” Blaine flicked a bit of water back towards me as he asked, “How about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“Happy,” I automatically answered with a grin back. “Oh, you mean for a career? I’ve thought about theater. I love to sing, but my voice would be a rather unique niche, being as high as it is. This is probably going to sound odd, since you’ve only seen me in my camp wardrobe, but I think I want to major in fashion at college. Which is really soon!”

“You mean you don’t dress in swimsuits and sandals at home?” Blaine asked with fake wide eyed innocence.

“Nope. I think the people in my high school would be shocked to see what I wear at camp. I dress as high fashion as I can sew and scavenge from sales at home. It’s kind of like a big FU to all the people in my school when I walk down the hall in something they’d never dream of wearing.” I flicked a bit of water back, not hard enough to actually splash Blaine this time, just enough to maybe break any negative mood I’d just made.

“I like the idea of that. Like a giant middle finger to the bullies in the way of fashion,” Blaine noted, looking out over the mountain beyond for a moment before he added, “My dad sent me a package.”

“Oh? Did he send you sweets? I’m still waiting for Mike’s mom to send him more cookies.”

“No. No sweets. You’d think having been a camper here once upon a time he might think of that.” Blaine fake pouted for just a moment before he returned to the topic at hand. “It was information on my new school for the fall. Plus, all the books on my summer reading list. Ug.”

“Summer reading list, huh? Sounds like a more serious school than mine. I guess I know where all your free time and rest hours will go now.” I scooted to change positions on the metal bench of the canoe, giving my legs a chance to stretch out now that we were just drifting.

“He sent a brochure for the school. Looks like it’s a pretty serious place. Dalton Academy, with uniforms and everything. I don’t know what his kick about me and all boys environments is. First it was here, now it’s an all boys high school.” Blaine made a silly little face. “I love how he seems to think that being around a whole bunch of boys will make me straight.”

“Or maybe it’s just a good school?” I pointed out. “Ah, so now I’m imagining you in button down shirts and a sweater vest. It could be a good look.”

“That might be how I dress at home anyway,” Blaine admitted before he shrugged. “Someone, probably my mom since it’s in purple, highlighted parts of the brochure. Apparently the school has a zero tolerance policy on bullying. That almost sounds too good to be true.”

“I wish my school had something like that. Are you still going to be around the Columbus area? That’s where you’re from, right?” It felt weird to talk about Ohio out here on the lake.

“It’s in Westerville, which is still Columbus area.”

“That’s only about a two hour drive away from me,” I noted, flicking my fingers into the water. “Maybe we can get together every once in a while on the weekend? It would be nice to have a friend who understands.”

“I think that is a great idea.” Blaine gave me a genuine smile. There’s not much I wouldn’t give to see him like this all the time. It felt like a gift that he was letting me see him without all the walls and barriers he’d built to protect himself. “And in the real world we’ll have working cell phone service again. So not only can we see each other once in a while, we can call and text. I didn’t have a whole lot of friends at my last school, and I’ll know no one at this new school. I’m not going to turn down a chance to keep talking to someone I get along so well with. Can you believe it’s not even been two weeks?”

“That’s what camp does. We’re together so much in this little isolated piece of earth that friendships speed up. I’ve gotten closer to people here in eight weeks than the other ten months at home.” I eyed the shore and grabbed my paddle to turn the canoe. “Look! The sun is starting to set.”

It was a perfect end to the day. It was so easy to just talk to Blaine about everything after that: favorite musicals and TV shows, fashion choices, embarrassing childhood moments. The sun set around us as we conversed, and I finally paddled us in towards shore. I didn’t want that moment to end, but soon it would have been too dark to get the canoe put away.


	9. Chapter 9

Sundays were always a nice break at camp. All of the other days followed a similar schedule of camp activities and evening activities, but Sundays were a day to sleep in. At least, they were a day for the older campers to sleep in. I didn’t envy Finn and Rory with the nine-year-olds. You could tell them to sleep in all you want, but at the crack of dawn (or at least by the time the bell normally rang), they’d always be up attempting to play quietly. Ten nine-year-olds and quiet should never belong in the same sentence. I think it’s humanly impossible for them to do, no matter how much they try.

In the JC’s room, only the crazy wouldn’t take the first opportunity of the summer to sleep in. Even Sam didn’t get up for a run that Sunday. It was nine o’clock by the time I surfaced from my bunk and dragged myself through my morning routine.

 I doubted most of the JC guys would even make it to breakfast before they put away the continental style setup at ten. Wes would probably wake them up shortly after that when he ordered us around, er, supervised a deep cleaning of the leadership cabin.

I made it to breakfast in time to mix some cereal and yogurt together. Really, I made it to breakfast in time for a couple cups of coffee. None of my friends were in there, and I’m sure Finn and Rory had the boys through long before, so I wandered out as soon as I’d had a chance to eat.

Apparently, my timing was either really good or really bad, because Schue caught me as I was walking out and flagged me down.

“Kurt! Perfect. I wanted to talk to you this morning. Walk back to the office with me?” It was phrased as an invitation, but when your sort-of boss and definite superior offers you an invitation like that, you have no real choice but to take it.

I moved into step beside him, really glad I’d had the chance to grab coffee already. “What did you need to talk to me about?” See? I’d learned something this summer. I didn’t even start off with incriminating myself this time.

“Several things. First, Finn said that you’re doing well with the younger boys,” Schue commented as he led me up on the porch. This must not have been too serious of a talk, because this time we settled into the Adirondack chairs outside of the office.

“That’s good to hear. Honestly, I think I do like working with the older boys better, but I’ve found that the younger boys have their charms.” That’s a nice enough way to phrase it, right?

“I hope that even if you never end up wanting to be a cabin counselor to younger campers, and frankly, I’d be rather surprised if you do, that working with them this summer will increase your skill with them when you teach younger boys in activity periods,” Schue noted, relaxing back in his chair. It was a rather nice morning out for this.

“That really does make sense. If, when, I come back as a counselor next summer, I’d be teaching an activity to all kinds of ages,” I mused, but really, Schue wouldn’t have brought me back to the office to tell me that. If that was all he wanted to talk about, he would have done it right outside the dining hall.

“I was also talking to Finn about how Blaine was doing with the boys,” Schue said.

If he wasn’t going to ask a question, I wasn’t going to offer much back. “Oh?” I said simply. It wasn’t a surprise. It seemed like all my conversations with leadership lately came right back to Blaine.

“Finn said that he’s really good with the younger boys,” Schue continued, not fazed by my lack of real response. “How do you think he’d doing?”

Ah, a question. Now I’d offer more back, now that I knew what angle Schue wanted this to go towards. “Honestly, I think he’s better than I am with the little guys. He understands them, and they love him. He’s not nervous around them the way he is around people his own age or older. Plus, I didn’t realize just how silly he could be until I saw him in a cabin surrounded by them.”

“That’s almost exactly what Finn said.” I eyed Schue trying to figure out if that included the Blaine being better than me part. Then I decided it didn’t really matter. Good thing, because Schue kept talking. “Has he had anymore moments of shutting down or, well, freaking out?” Schue asked that slowly, as if he couldn’t find the right word for what he wanted to ask.

I shook my head first then had to stop to correct myself. “I was going to say no, but really, he has had one. Not on camp grounds. He had a hard time at the doctor’s appointment. I think that related back to the fact that David was there, and that the doctor needed to work on his bedside manner a bit.”

Schue raised his eyebrows, gesturing at me to explain things a bit more.

“Blaine was nervous about David finding out things that he hadn’t told anyone here but me. Even then, it took him to the end of training open up enough to tell me. The doctor didn’t seem to notice that the fact he was telling his med student about just how Blaine’s arm got broken, as if Blaine wasn’t even in the room, was bringing back some bad memories.” I shrugged, trying to keep it on general terms. I was pretty sure Schue only knew parts of the story. It didn’t help that I didn’t exactly know which parts.

“I could see how that would be a trigger. He didn’t seem too bad when you got back to camp, though,” Schue noted.

I shook my head. “He stopped freaking out pretty quickly when we left the hospital, and David stopped for ice cream on the way back. That helped. He really seemed to calm down when we pulled back into camp though. I think he’s starting to see this as a safe space in the world. He’s definitely a lot more relaxed all the time than he was a week ago. When it’s just the two of us, he doesn’t really have any walls up anymore. Even with some of the other guys he has very few, like Jeff, Nick, Mike, and Sam.”

It came out with a bit of a defensive tone. I’m not sure why I really felt the need to defend how well Blaine was doing to Schue.

“I’ve seen that. That’s part of the reason I’m telling you about the next decision I made. Some of the kayaking counselors were talking to me about the first out of camp trip this week. The advanced group is going off for three days to learn river kayaking techniques. They asked me if you could go with them. They’re leaving tomorrow.”

I know that there’s no way I was keeping the excitement off my face at that news. It had been a two summers since I’d gotten to go on a trip like that. “Can I? When is it?”

“They leave tomorrow. I know it’s short notice, but I really had to think this through. I think it will be good for you to go on this trip.” Schue paused for a moment before he added, “I also think it’s time to let your little chick fly on his own. Blaine needs to see that he doesn’t have to be dependent on you to do well here.”

I beamed over. “I can pack quickly. Tomorrow through Wednesday? Is it tent camping both nights? Campfire cooking?” Yeah, I really was excited to do this. I did need to respond to the second part, too. “I don’t really see Blaine as my chick, but I do think that would be a good thing. I don’t mind that he needs me, but I look forward to the day when he doesn’t have to rely on me. I’d like to just be his friend.” Or his boyfriend, but there was no way that’s what I was saying to the director.

“All of that, yes. When you leave here, you should go find Joe. He’s taking lead on this trip. He’s in Cabin 8. He can fill in the rest of the details.” Schue smiled over. “And I bet Blaine would like to get to the point himself where he can see you as just a friend as well.” I hoped not, really. I hoped Blaine would end up wanting something closer to what I did.

 

* * *

 

I left Schue’s not long after to find Joe and get details on the trip. Once those were acquired, I made my way back to my cabin. The guys had probably started cleaning by now, and this was going to be my one real chance to pack today. The afternoon would be filled with themed competition, and after dinner, it would be time for campfire.

I ran into Nick as I walked inside. He had a bundle of now dry clothes from the line outside. I grinned over, probably too cheerfully for the relative time of day, but the trip had me excited. “Nick! How’s it going?”

“Alright. Got roped into cleaning off the line. This is yours, right?” He pulled a pair of plaid swim trunks out of the pile to offer them to me.

I eyed the pair for just a second before I grabbed them with a quick, “Thanks.” I started towards the stairs before I turned back to add, “If Blaine’s in your room, will you ask him to come talk to me? Just whenever he has time?” It was probably better if he found out I was going on the trip from me, and not from the grapevine.

“Sure! Glad to get one thing claimed from this pile.” With the wave of a towel, Nick disappeared into his room, leaving me free to go up to mine.

At least half the guys were out, probably cleaning the bathroom or the grounds. Sam and Mike were still there, though. Sam was sprawled across his bed, while Mike re-organized his trunk, most of the contents strewn across his bunk.

Sam glanced up and over at me. “Oh, there you are! We were starting to wonder if you’d gotten lost in the woods or something,” Sam teased, scooting to lean over the edge of the top bunk.

“Hah. Are you avoiding work again?” I asked back with my eyebrows raised. “Schue pulled me aside after breakfast. Then I had to go talk to Joe.” I moved to my trunk, pushing it open to look to see what all I still had clean inside. Laundry normally went out on Tuesdays, so this might be a bit of a stretch wardrobe wise.

“What did you do now?” Sam asked, at about the same time Mike turned to ask, “What did Schue want you for?”

“I didn’t _do_ anything. If I did, you know you’d have been in on it,” I pointed out to Sam with a dry tone. “I am however going on the kayak trip.” I grabbed my backpack out from under my bed, snagging my sleeping bag from under there as well.

“Lucky. That sounds fun. Pretty much the same one we went on as Seniors?” Mike asked as he worked on refolding his remaining clean clothes, sliding them neatly back into his trunk.

“It’s pretty darn similar. We’re camping at Lake Francis State Park, and doing some day trips out from there to the upper parts of the Connecticut River.” I pulled a pair of sweatpants from my trunk, unrolling them to eye the fabric. Not something I cared too deeply about ruining, so in it went to the backpack. I’d probably only wear them around the campsite anyway.

“Awesome. We’ll miss seeing you around here though,” Sam said, with the perfect timing of getting that sentence out as Blaine walked up.

I could tell that Blaine had heard it too because his eyes went from Sam to my packing. He immediately got pale, eyes widening. “You’re leaving?” Blaine said with a hint of panic to his tone. It was clear that he thought this was something more permanent than it really was.

“Just for a couple of days,” I said quickly, as Sam and Mike suddenly found ways to pretend they weren’t close enough to be listening. It was more of a challenge for Sam, since he had nothing to occupy himself with. “Schue just told me. There’s a kayaking trip this week, and he’s sending me with them.”

Blaine let out a long rush of breath, settling a bit. “Oh. When will you be gone?” He was fiddling the bottom of his t-shirt between his fingers, a sure sign he was still fighting off anxiety about this.

“Tomorrow morning. We’re taking breakfast with us to get an early start. I’ll be back Wednesday around dinner time, though. It’s just three days.” I tried to let my confidence that this would all be alright show in my voice. “I’m going to miss everyone here,” especially you, “but I’m really looking forward to this. We’re even going to kayak a bit of whitewater on Tuesday, I think.”

“That does sound exciting,” Blaine said, letting the bottom of his t-shirt go as he let out another long breath. “I’d say we’re all going to miss you here, but I might just move up here. Take your bed. Get to hang out with Mike all the time.” He gave the other guy a quick smile, bringing him back into the conversation.

“Yeah. Like Wes would let you do that.” I rolled my eyes over towards Blaine, moving back to packing. Joking Blaine was a good sign. “I may starve in the meantime, though. We have to eat our own cooking. I’m a wizard with a stove, but I doubt we’ll have all the spices I’d like with our campfire. Ooh, I should push to bring a dutch oven. We could make dump cake.”

“You’ll make me jealous I’m not going,” Mike joked at that, tucking the last of his now matched socks down into his trunk. “Not as much for the kayaking, but you know I love dump cake.”

Blaine however was just giving us the ‘crazy camp people’ look. “Do I even want to know? It sounds… rather disgustingly like something Jared would make up in a moment of potty humor.”

“Oh no. It’s great,” Mike said, pulling the conversation fully back to a cheerful point. “You just dump fruit or fruit pie filling into a dutch oven, dump cake mix on top of it, and then add soda or butter to the top. Takes a while, but it makes a great dessert.”

* * *

 

The three days were great. Wonderful even. I had a marvelous time. I did miss people back at camp, but mostly, I missed Blaine. Sitting out there in the woods, I had a bit of revelation, staring out over the lake at the state park.

Blaine wasn’t just someone I was interested in because he was cute. In those moments where he was most himself, like out in the canoe, Blaine was quickly becoming one of my best friends. I’d only known him about two weeks, but I already felt like I could tell him things I didn’t share with anyone but Mike. I hoped that he was doing well at camp. I wanted more of those best-friend Blaine moments, even if putting it like that felt a little bit selfish.

* * *

 

We pulled back into camp late on Wednesday. We were supposed to be back before dinner, but it was after seven when we pulled into the parking lot.

A grin crossed over my face when I saw that Blaine and Rory were leading Cabin 3 over towards us, probably on the way to the athletic fields for whatever they planned to do for evening activity.

All I had to do was step out of the van, and I was attacked by little people. Of course, it was in the best way possible, since they were relatively un-sticky as they showered me with hugs. Actually, after three days in and out of water and sleeping in a tent, I’m sure I was the stinky one, if not the sticky one.

It was rather nice to be missed, even by a group of rugrats. I gave them a group squeeze before I stepped back joking, “It’s good to see all of you, but I’d like to keep breathing!”

Blaine stepped forward and with just a glance towards the van of teenagers, he pulled me into a quick hug as well. “I missed you. A lot. Come find me when you’re all settled back in?”

I gulped at the contact, Blaine initiated even, and then simply nodded wordlessly. That was an offer I would never refuse.

 


	10. Chapter 10

It took me awhile to get everything hauled back to my cabin and unpacked. Honestly, it took me a lot longer than I wanted it to. I was chomping at the bit.

I will admit that I’d missed Blaine a lot. A whole lot. And from the actual, live hug I’d gotten in greeting, it seemed like Blaine might have felt the same way.

Since my brain has to over analyze everything, I hoped that contact might mean that just the few days of my absence had the growth Schue wanted. I hoped that Blaine taking that step where other people could even see it meant that he’d started to have the same self-confidence around other people that he’d developed when it was just the two of us.

Finally, I had all my stuff settled enough to stop agonizing over this and just go find the group of campers, a.k.a., talk to Blaine.

I took a few extra deep breaths as I walked across the fields towards where the Cabin 3 kids were involved in a ‘just for the fun of it’ game of soccer. I couldn’t afford to be too disappointed if all my greatest hopes hadn’t come to pass. That would just be silly, and, honestly, I don’t think I’m that huge of an optimist.

The less insanely competitive of the campers waved my way as I approached Rory and Blaine on the sidelines, sinking down to sit in the grass beside Blaine.

“So, what did the rugrats manage to get up to in my absence?” I asked. It seemed a safe enough entrance into conversation.

“Seth officially hasn’t cried one bit the whole time,” Rory said, eyes not leaving the game. I’m sure out of the three of us, he was the one best able to ref this game. By far. “I think we can pretty well consider his homesickness cured. He even got a letter from his mum and read it with not one teardrop.”

“That’s huge progress,” I replied with a rather happy sigh. “I hate tears. I always feel so awkward with a crying kid. I always just want to push them towards Finn. Or you.” I nudged Blaine gently with my elbow as I said that.

Blaine grinned over to me, sticking his tongue out in response. “Oh sure. Foist all the sobbers off on me. I see how it is.”

Rory laughed lightly. “At least he’s not foisting them off on me. I approve.” He glanced between the two of us for a moment before adding, “If you two want to go for a walk or whatever and catch up, I can easily handle this for half an hour.”

Were we really that obvious? What exactly had I missed?

Apparently it was nothing too bad because Blaine stood with a light blush on his cheeks, and offered me a hand up. I took it with a look up that was probably a bit surprised then nodded towards Rory. “Thanks. We won’t go too far. Yell if you need us.”

He waved off that suggestion and the two of ambled silently over towards the woods and the creek that ran behind the sports fields.

Neither of us said anything, just walking in companionable silence until we found a downed tree to sit on, facing the slight ravine of the creek.

Eventually, I just had to break that silence or we’d just spend our half an hour staring at nothing together. “Are you having a good week so far?” Yes, I’m obviously a rocket scientist of conversation.

“I came out to Finn and Rory.” That was not at all the response I thought my question might get from Blaine.

I didn’t want to say anything that he could interpret as negative in response, so I went with simply, “Oh?” hoping that he’d continue on.

“I don’t even quite know what made me do it. We were all sitting around on Monday night in their room after the kids were asleep. It was Finn’s night off, but he claimed he wanted to get extra sleep out of it. So we were just shooting the breeze, talking about family actually. Rory mentioned that his older sister lives with her partner in Dublin, and I know that Finn can’t be that homophobic if he thinks of you like a little brother. I guess that made me comfortable.” Blaine reached down to grab a twig from the ground, picking dried leaves off of it.

I just listened, nodding and making the sort of noises that I hoped showed I was paying attention but wouldn’t interrupt.

It must have been working alright, because Blaine continued. “So later on they were talking about what movie stars they thought were the hottest. When they turned and asked me, I was honest. It felt… really freeing. I like not having to hide. I think they were probably kind of surprised, but they were really cool about it.”

“Good. I know what you mean about the feeling free. Even though most people just assume about me, it’s still nice to not feel like I need to watch what I say.” I turned a bit to look at Blaine. “You just seem happier. More confident. I noticed it as soon as you said hello.”

“I do?”

“You do. Two weeks ago you never would have come up to say hi to me in public. You’d have made me initiate everything,” I pointed out.

“Huh, I guess I would have.” Blaine snapped the twig in half. “Maybe my dad was right in sending me here no matter what his actual intentions were. I feel so much less afraid than I did when I got here. I was just nervous every moment, waiting for the next blow or harsh word. I still have moments like that, but they’re just moments. Most of the time, I’m just happy. The kids are awesome. I’m making some great friends. On top of it all, there’s you.”

My heart sped up in my chest at the end of that sentence. I had to take a deep breath before I could even get words out to continue the conversation. “Me? Aren’t I becoming one of those great friends?”

“I feel like you’re becoming more than that,” Blaine said softly, tossing the twig pieces toward the creek so he could turn to face me. “I don’t want to rush into anything, but I can’t help it. I _like_ you.” Blaine paused for a moment to make a face. “God, that sounds so much like a fifth grader.”

“Do you like me? Check yes or no?” I joked lightly before reaching over to put a hand on Blaine’s knee. “I don’t want to rush into anything either, but the feeling is entirely mutual.” I could just feel his muscles relax beneath my hand as I admitted that. “I didn’t want to push you into anything you’re not ready for, but that’s kind of a mutual thing, too. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I don’t really know how to go about doing this. I’m afraid that I’ll do something to screw up our friendship.”

A smile lit up Blaine’s face even at that last admission. “We’ll take it really slow then. Not push anything that either one of us isn’t ready for?”

I nodded, letting out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding. “I think that sounds like a good plan. Would it be rushing things horribly for me to kiss you? At least once?” I asked timidly. I’d been repressing that urge for so long. It seemed kind of like a miracle that I might actually be allowed to let these feelings free.

Blaine nodded, opening his mouth to respond before he must have thought better of it. Instead, he leaned forward cupping my cheek with one hand to press a kiss to my lips.

I approved very much of the initiative. I also very much approved of sweet, lingering kisses. Butterflies fluttered down in my stomach as I leaned in towards Blaine. Even as we pulled our lips apart, I wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my forehead against his. “Alright. That might just be the most perfect part of my summer so far.”

“I’ll admit that does great things for my ego,” Blaine joked lightly. “That was definitely worth taking the risk. Could we just stay here, right like this, forever?”

“Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure there’s a whole group of kids that we’re going to have to help Rory get to bed soon. Otherwise, I’d be up for the whole ‘turn into trees if necessary to stay in this moment forever’ thing.” It sucked to pull away, but I knew I had to. Otherwise, I’d be tempted to shirk duties just to stay connected to Blaine. This time, I was the one that stood, offering my hand to Blaine to help him up.

Blaine took the help, but he didn’t let my hand go once we were standing, entwining his fingers into mine. “It’s going to be hard to hide this around the campers, isn’t it? And the staff. That would be one way to come out.” There was definite nervousness coloring Blaine’s tone at that thought.

“We’ll do whatever makes you comfortable. The hard part for me will be not telling Mike. And Sam.” But mostly Mike. He’s always been the one I tell just about everything to. “You’ll come out to who you want in whatever way you want. Don’t let me be the one pressuring you for any reason. If you feel like that’s happening, tell me? I’m not perfect. I’m so far from perfect.”

Blaine leaned over to press a quick kiss to my mouth to cut off the rambling I’d started. “I promise I will. When I’m ready to tell more people, I’m sure Mike will be high up the list of people I’ll feel comfortable sharing it with. In the meantime, maybe you could talk to Finn, if you need to?”

I regretfully pulled my hand out of Blaine’s warm grasp as we came to the edge of the clearing. “If you’re comfortable with him knowing everything, I’d like that.” I turned to see Blaine’s nod before fully stepping out of the woods to grin over towards Rory. “You managed to keep them all alive without us!”

 

* * *

 

It was the next evening before I had a chance to really talk to Finn. It had been a wonderful day. Part of that might have just been my mood. I’d had a wonderful trip out into the wilderness doing one of my favorite things. As soon as I’d gotten back, I’d had another wonderful trip into woods a bit less wild and done something that could easily find a spot on my list of favorite things.

It was no surprise that I was in a great mood today. Classes had gone well. I’d had fun in a period off snagging Mike, Nick, and Blaine to go out in canoes, ending up with a splashing war. I maintain that Blaine and I won, since we didn’t flip our canoe. At least it was late enough in the day for the water to have been refreshing for Mike and Nick?

We’d even managed to get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. Rory was off, and Blaine had a training meeting with the CITs that would probably lead into some structured fun activity until too late for him to be stopping by here.

That left Finn and I with the guys after dinner. It’d been a cabin night, and we’d taken the boards from windsurfing out without the sails. The guys had a great time ‘surfing’ on the fairly calm lake. That also apparently wore them out quite well, because after a chapter read aloud from Harry Potter, all was quiet in the boys room. We didn’t even have to go back in to shush anyone or tell them that it was time to turn out their flashlights. I think that might be a first for the whole summer.

Finn and I had made our way back towards the counselor room. Technically, I was off duty now and could have headed back towards my cabin. I’d had precious little time this summer to just chat with Finn, though. We’d spent so much time together, but so little of it was one on one. I was going to make the best of it so I curled up on the empty bed as Finn moved to sprawl out on his.

“Have you heard for sure yet when you’re moving in here?” Finn asked, kicking off his sandals, letting them fall wherever they landed on the floor.

I resisted the urge to put Finn’s flipflops away properly, but moved to pull off my own Chacos. “A week from Saturday was the last I heard.” I set them down neatly on the floor. “So we’ll be in cabins a full week before Parent’s Day. It’s going to be so weird. I’ve shared a cabin with the other JCs for so long. I don’t know what I’ll do not waking up next to Sam and Mike every day.”

“I see how it is,” Finn teased, tucking his pillow behind him to rest against it. “I see how Rory and I compare. I do remember that feeling. It was odd for the first week or so, way back when. It made me so much better prepared that next summer, though.”

“Oh yeah, I get the point in the transition. I’m just not completely sure whether I’m looking forward to it. No matter how nice Rory is.” I wrinkled my nose over, teasing back by leaving Finn out of things. “And I won’t have Blaine downstairs.”

“Mmhmm. Blaine.” Finn raised his eyebrows, smirking over. “How are things going with Blaine?”

“Oh my lord. Am I really that obvious?” I asked, before realizing that if I wasn’t, I’d just given myself away. Oh well. I had planned to tell Finn everything, after all.

“You’re not _super_ obvious, but what you are missing, Blaine makes up for.” Finn grinned over. “He looks at you like a hopeful puppy dog half the time.”

“He does?” I didn’t give that long to sink in before I just sighed happily. “Please don’t tell anyone, because he’s not completely comfortable being out to everyone yet, but things are going really well. Last night we talked about everything, like how cute he is. We decided to take things slowly, not rush ourselves.”

Finn nodded along, with a proud look on his face. As if this had anything to do with him at all. “I told him you’d be open to his feelings.” Alright, maybe the fact that Blaine broached the subject with me did have something to do with Finn after all.

“You did? Blaine didn’t tell me that.” I’d have to decide later how I felt about Finn interfering. Right now, I was just happy. Happy with everything. “So we talked, and then he kissed me. It was… perfect.”

“Good, little bro. You deserve some moments of perfect in your life. You both do.” I must have made some kind of questioning face over to Finn at that because he waved a hand. “I know that people have been shitty to you in your life. I wish I could be there to tell them off. Blaine might not have said as much, but you can just tell that some people have been at least as shitty to him.”

I nodded my head. I could easily see how someone could tell that just from interacting with Blaine. Especially the Blaine of a week or two ago. He’d come so far in just the few weeks of camp. “Sometimes it feels impossible. To believe that I can really have so many good things in my life. Sometimes a week as wonderful as this has been seems like it must be a dream. I’m not the guy who gets to kiss the cute boy. I’m the guy that gets taunted with slurs and thrown into lockers until my back is black and blue.” I grabbed my knees pulling my legs up towards my chest.

“You shouldn’t have to be. No one should have to be that guy.” Finn shook his head before admitting. “I didn’t always stand up for people like I should have in high school. I don’t think my school was as bad as yours, but there were times I looked the other way or walked the other way. I regret it now. I wish I could go back to my sixteen-year-old self and tell him to take his head out of his butt and be a man.”

“We can’t turn back the clock and change things, no matter how much we want to.” I tucked my head down on my knees as I looked over. “I could be very after school special-like and tell you that it’s what we do today that matters and makes a difference. It has made a difference to me. No matter how much I wished that someone at school would even act like they saw what was going on, like I wasn’t invisible, I’ve always known that I have friends from here that I can call up or Skype with and just rely on. Now Blaine has that, too. Plus, he only lives a couple hours from me.”

“Finally someone in your neck of the backwoods?” Finn joked, lightening up the mood.

“Har, har. But that means I can visit him sometimes. It doesn’t have to be just a summer fling or a friendship over the phone.” I paused for a moment, narrowing my eyes. “I’ll just have to make sure I don’t frighten him away with the first trip to the mall.”

 


	11. Chapter 11

Life continued on at camp. It felt to me like something huge had changed, but no one else even seemed to notice.

The boys were, thankfully, cheerfully oblivious to any changes in the relationship between Blaine and I. They were too busy worrying about their upcoming 'camping' trip to care about much else.

All week, they had been getting more and more excited for this treat. On Friday night, all four of us would be in charge of wrangling the boys through what was, for many of them, their first camping trip out in the woods.

It wasn't really going to be all that wild, despite the fact that the guys were talking about it like we were hiking to the depths of nowhere to fend for ourselves with only our skills and maybe Finn's pocket knife.

I did seriously consider bringing one of the bows over to try to convince them it was how we were going to hunt down dinner. Only the fact that a joke like that could end up with someone like Seth or Liam in tears held me back. It was close.

Rest hour on Friday found me sprawled across Blaine's bed as he packed for the overnight. After going on a much more real camping trip earlier in the week, it had been so easy to update my pack for one night spent on a more remote part of the camp grounds.

"You know, I've never actually slept in a tent." Blaine admitted, as Nick helped him re-roll his sleeping bag.

"Seriously?" Jeff peered down over the edge of his top bunk to shake his head at Blaine. "You have lived a deprived life. Poor, poor Blaine."

Blaine wrinkled his nose back at Jeff. I raised a hand to my mouth to hide the fit of giggles that threatened to come out. "Yes. The fact that I've never slept on the ground in the woods means I've had no experiences worth mentioning in my life."

"Exactly!" Jeff gave Blaine a wickedly teasing look. "How will you ever be prepared for the CIT trip? You know they take us out into the middle of the forest and drop us with nothing but a compass and our packs, right? Then we have to forage our food and bushwhack our way back to camp."

I felt the need to put Blaine out of his misery there, seeing the wide eyed look he was giving Jeff. That was _so_ naive. "Don't listen to Jeff. Like, ever. The CIT trip is actually a mini-vacation. You'll probably go week five or early week six. It's a couple days spent in the historic part of Quebec City. So cool."

Nick tossed the sleeping bag up to me, testing to make sure it held before he just grinned. "I'm looking forward to that so much. No campers, just all of us pretending we speak French along with hopefully a couple of really cool counselors." He eyed Blaine's camping gear before adding, "You can borrow my camp pad."

"Your what?" Blaine asked, fiddling with the metal lid of his mess kit. Just like his trunk, all of this camping gear was brand new. It was clear he'd never spent a lot of time out in the woods, and hadn't been stuck with Cooper's hand me downs.

"Believe me, you'll want one." I commented giving Nick a smile of thanks. "It's like a mini-air mattress. It doesn't really make it all soft and cozy, but it gives you just enough of a cushion that the sticks and rocks won't poke into your back all night. I wonder if Rory has one." I would assume Finn does. If not, he's been around long enough to borrow one or have it be his own fault if he has a pebble that feels like a boulder poking into his hip all night long.

"Why don't you take mine with you, just in case?" Jeff offered with a contrite look, swinging down off the top bunk to find it in his gear.

"Thanks, Jeff. Why don't you get this stuff shoved into your backpack, and I'll go grab my gear?" I suggested to Blaine. "Then we can take it over to the cabin, to leave it on the porch with the rest of the stuff that's going tonight."

Blaine nodded, giving me a big smile. "Camping here we come! It'll be a new experience. No bears, right?"

I shook my head over at him, laughing. It was times like these that the fact that it felt like nothing had changed the most. I really wanted to kiss that smile off his face, but it would have been way too much PDA for camp, even if he had been out to Nick and Jeff. I had to settle for a smirk as I navigated my way through the mess of the CIT room stopping for a few comments with familiar faces, giving Blaine plenty of time to finish packing.

 

* * *

 

After last period, it was off to the campsite for us. We took a cooler of supplies for dinner and all of our packs. It wasn't the huge hike into the woods the boys had been over exaggerating all week. In fact, we only hiked about a minute from a secluded dock on the lake. The rest of the trip was by the 'party boat', a big platoon style boat with Christmas lights hanging off the posts. The hardest part of the trip was getting life jackets on and off all the boys.

Setting up the tents wasn't too horrible. It was still light, and there were well defined spaces for them to go up. This site was shared between the two camps, used mostly for overnights like ours tonight. It was a safe place for the youngest campers to get experience in skills they would later use out on the trail.

Cooking our own dinner went about as well as expected. Which meant that no one died, but there may have been a few exasperated voices.

We made Frito Pie, which should have been easy enough. All the kids had to do over the fire was brown meat and heat beans. I supervised this part and managed to end up with not one singed camper. It might help that I had claimed Liam and Nick's brother Alex for the stirring of hot things.

Finn had been smart enough to delegate the oh-so-enthusiastic Jared to finding the tinder and kindling for the fire. If we had more twigs than we would ever burn in ten fires, at least no one had given Jared a knife.

Rory and Blaine together had been given command of the children with knives. Children with knives. That idea right there is pretty scary, even if they were little paring knives and potato peelers.

Getting children with knives to listen had proven to be a challenge, but once it was finally running smoothly, I could hear Blaine try to control snickering over one of the boys proclamation that he couldn't wait to cut up and eat Bob the Tomato. I'm not sure that was the real intention of Veggietales, but whatever ends up with a kid eating vegetables, right?

Once all the ingredients were finished, the boys had a fine time crushing up little bags of Fritos and dumping fixing inside. I'm all for campfire meals with minimal cleanup, especially knowing what their plates were probably going to look like after we made eggs and french toast in the morning.

Dinner finished and turned into the eating of s'mores, followed by the singing of silly songs and the telling of stories. Finn and I made an absolute no scary stories rule, much to the boys’ dismay. Their dismay now, though. If we didn't, later on it would be to the counselors’ dismay when we were getting woken up by terrified campers all night long. The sounds of the woods so close would spook enough of them on their own.

Finn took charge of the cleanup crew once the water had heated on the fire. It was more interesting now that the sun was starting to set, and the boys were getting a taste of just how dark it could be out here in the woods. The boys all had a chance to dunk their plates and make sure they were clean as they scrubbed their silverware. Mess kits in mesh dunk bags were hanging from the trees to dry before we came back together around the fire, minus Finn and the four boys he had scrubbing the pots and mixing bowls.

I came up with the bright idea of telling a group story, where each camper adds on the next part, with yet another groaned at warning not to make it scary.

"I'll start. There was a big dragon who decided that he wanted to be a camper." I began passing the Twig of Speaking Power over towards Blaine.

"The dragon just wanted to learn how to kayak and play soccer. He didn't realize the campers might be scared of him." Blaine added, passing the twig off to Liam who pondered it all for a moment.

"He was a really big dragon. Big! With purple polka dots and yellow stripes. Half the boys laughed at him and the other half screamed."

Liam passed the stick off to Seth who nearly threw it into the fire before he started to speak. "The dragon started to cry because he felt so bad about how the kids treated him."

The stick went to Alex who added, "So Blaine went up to the dragon to make him feel better. They started to play soccer together."

"The kids saw how much fun Blaine was having with the dragon so then they stopped being mean and scared and wanted to play, too!" Jared added when it was his turn, before he leaned close to Alex to attempt to whisper, "It's hard to tell a story without zombies."

The story continued from there, and one story became another until somehow a teddy bear was marrying the dragon and Finn clapped his hands. "So I think it's time to get ready for bed!"

Boys were scuttled off into pajamas, and teeth were brushed with bottled water. A chapter from the latest bedtime story was still read by Rory, sitting outside the tent doors. He zipped all the doors closed and came to join as us the fire.

"Please God let them sleep." He whispered as he sank down to sit on a log next to Finn. "So Blaine, been spending time around dragons I don't know about?" He teased lightly, getting a laugh from the CIT.

"Kurt would hate me forever if I answered that." He teased lightly, comfortable here with just the four of us.

I kept my voice low, not wanting to wake the campers, or have them hear us. "Not forever. I just might be forced to short sheet your bed in retaliation, though."

"Short sheet? What's that?" Blaine asked, getting laughs from Finn and I instead of an answer. Rory looked just as confused as Blaine as he said, "What?"

"Oh, you'll see. Maybe Jeff will have to experience it sometime soon, just because your camp prank education must be furthered." I stated with a cackling laugh.

"Oh. It's that sort of thing?"

"Exactly that sort of thing." Finn interjected, putting a marshmallow on a stick to start roasting it over the fire. There were extra s'mores supplies that couldn't be wasted, after all. "So what did you think of your first s'more, Rory?"

"It was good. Really sweet and messy. I suppose you Yanks have a few good food items mixed with all the grease. S'mores, peanut butter..." Rory shrugged, grabbing his own marshmallow to toast.

"You'd never had a s'more?" Blaine perked up. He'd apparently missed this tidbit earlier.

"No. We don't eat them in Ireland. They're such an American thing."

Finn had to add back into this conversation as he moved closer to the fire, squatting down to get the marshmallow to a perfect state of brown with the coals. "I think we have the better end of thing. Peanut butter and s'mores, and all you across the ocean people bring over is tea and Marmite. Have you tried that stuff? Tastes like toe jam or something." He told Blaine with a shudder.

"It's great on toast." Rory insisted before moving down by Finn.

"Uh, if you say so." Blaine replied before scooting a bit closer to me. We couldn't be overly physically affectionate just in case one of the campers came out, but he pressed his thigh up against mine. It was crazy how such a simple gesture and small amount of touch could send such warmth running throughout my body. "You're awful quiet tonight. You alright?" He whispered, leaning in close to me.

"Perfect. I think tonight I'm perfect." I whispered back, bringing my hand down to rest on Blaine’s knee. "I guess I'm just absorbing it all. What could be better than sitting by a campfire with good friends and you?"

Blaine gave me a huge smile in return. I realized that tonight, here with just our cabin, I hadn't seen a single barrier be thrown up all evening. No worry, no fear or hesitation, just Blaine getting into camp life and showing me why I cared so much for him.

Finn leaned closer to Rory and mock-whispered, "Aw. Look at the lovebugs."

Blaine responded with a blush, turning his face to hide it in my neck. Despite the thrill of that contact, I responded the best way possible, simply displaying my middle finger to Finn.

About the time Rory was blowing out his marshmallow that had, of course, caught on fire, there was a rustle of talk and giggles from one of the tents. Finn piped up, "Go to sleep!"

We could just hear the rustling die down when one voice failed to whisper, "I bet they're out there eating the rest of the s'mores."

Rory gave his newly assembled treat a guilty look while the rest of us simply broke down into laughter.

 


	12. Chapter 12

I untacked the last musical poster from beside my bed before glancing around the room. It was hard to believe just how empty the top floor of the cabin looked. All the mess and clutter of four weeks of a group living together had been eliminated, tucked into neat trunks and stuffed laundry bags. I folded my comforter, moving to strip the sheets from my bed and shove them into my already mostly full laundry bag. Good thing the laundry was going out tomorrow morning. And good thing I had a second clean bottom sheet to put on my new cot in Cabin 3.

"I can't believe this day is actually here," Sam noted, pausing in his packing to plop cross legged on the top of his bunk.

"I know. We'll never all be living in the same cabin again. Ever. It's rather bittersweet," I said, rolling my pillow up inside my blankets. "It feels a lot like growing up."

"I suspect they mean it to." Mike popped his head out of his trunk to reply. "Maybe some of us will end up as co-counselors some day. Think Schue would ever let us get away with that?"

"Only if he wants the camp to burn down around us," I joked dryly before I followed Sam's lead, collapsing on the edge of my bed. "At least, I doubt he'd let Sam and I be together. You're supposedly a good influence."

"And you're not? Didn't Schue give you Blaine to watch over? Would he have done that if he thought you were such a bad influence?" Mike questioned with a teasing tone, shutting the lid to his trunk.

I laughed eyeing Sam. "I think that's true. Which leaves you as the horrible influence. Mike and I will be busy with a cabin of seniors next year, and you'll be all off on your own. Poor, bad influence Sam."

Sam lifted his hand, flipping me off with a cheerful grin showing just how not actually angry he was. "Sure. You two leave me behind. I'll be off crying in the corner. Besides, I'm not a bad influence. I'm just fun."

"So that's what they're calling it these days?" I let out a sigh. "I'm not ready to let go of all of this," I admitted. "Promise me that we'll still be friends, even when you're not a bunk over?"

Mike raised three fingers on his right hand. "I promise."

"Were you ever even a boy scout?" I scoffed teasingly. I really was going to miss spending so much time with both of them. This summer had already cut into that, both with my schedule with activities and my cabin and with all the time I'd been spending with Blaine. I didn't regret that time at all, especially the time spent with Blaine, but I did miss having my friends be the whole focus of my summer. "We've already been doing it, haven't we? Growing apart and moving on this summer?"

Sam shrugged. "I'll promise as well, but no fancy hand gestures. And I suppose we have. Totally different schedules and all. But am I any less your friend? We'll still be tight, even living in different cabins." Leave it to Sam to surprise me with insight.

I nodded, standing up from my cot. "I think I'm all packed. I should start hauling this over to the cabin, but I'm not sure I want to leave. Plus, how the hell did all my stuff multiply over the summer? I swear I didn't have this much when I moved in."

Mike laughed at that last bit, moving to roll up his own blankets. "I know! I swear it's been breeding behind our backs." He paused for a moment then sighed. "I think we all three need to grab a load and go. It's like ripping off a bandaid. It won't be the same not spending the whole summer with beds next to each other, but that doesn't mean we're not friends. Now let's stop being mopey girls and get on with it." He grabbed those blankets and turned right there to walk out.

"Well, Mike actually went to all the trouble to make a speech for once. Wow. We'd better listen or Hades might crash in around us," I said with a sigh, grabbing my laundry bag and my own blanket roll. "Meet back here to help each other with the trunks?"

 

* * *

 

It might have been fitting that first thing I did upon my move was to tack my musical posters back up to the wall over my new bed in Cabin 3. I'm sure Rory and Finn will really appreciate them. Probably as much as my last few cabins have. At least it made the bed feel more like mine. I'd been anticipating this move the whole summer, but now that it was here? It felt odd. As if I was suddenly pretending to be a cabin counselor, like it was all a ploy. I hadn't even finished high school. How could someone trust me to put kids to bed and take care of them?

It was silly, considering that I'd been training to do that for more than a summer and this wouldn't really change much at all about what I'd been doing with the boys all summer.

I reached down to heft my trunk, shifting it to fit against the wall and under shelving built into the wooden side of the cabin. One nice thing about living here, I had more shelf and storage space. I'd find a use for all of it, I was sure, despite the restrictions on the amount I could bring since I'd flown to camp.

I was just standing up from tucking in my blankets when I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I'll have to admit that I pretty well jumped out of my skin before I turned around and saw that it was Blaine. He stepped back with a sheepish look on his face as he could probably feel my heart racing against his back.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Blaine said with a wince. "I didn't realize you hadn't heard me come in."

I shook my head. "I know. I just - I know that no one here is going to grab me and do anything horrible, but it's hard to convince my instincts of that. You know?"

Blaine nodded, and I knew that he really did. "Maybe I should choose this for a greeting instead?" He quickly glanced around to make sure we still had privacy and then closed the distance between us to press a kiss to my lips.

I lifted a hand to his cheek, kissing back for a moment, before I pulled away to suck in some air. "I quite like that greeting."

"I'll have to remember that," Blaine said, a smile spreading across his face. "Especially now that you have a bit more privacy. Speaking of which, how's the unpacking going?"

"It's going pretty well. It's not that hard to pack and unpack camp stuff, since so much of it was already either in my trunk or laundry bag." I pointed out, moving to sit on the freshly made bed, patting the spot beside me for Blaine to sit down. "This your free period?"

"Yep. I have a whole hour, well, fifty minutes or so now, to do whatever I want." Blaine sank down close to me, bumping our shoulders lightly together.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, cuddling close, and Blaine responded by resting his head down on my shoulder. With the warm feeling it evoked in the pit of my stomach, I could have stayed just like that all day. "Well, whatever you want that won't get us kicked out of camp if someone walked in on us."

"True. That does rather limit things" Blaine teased before he added, "My dad emailed. He's planning to come for Parents' Day on Saturday."

"He went here, right? Makes sense. It's a chance to relive his youth," I noted, tilting my head to rest it against Blaine's curls.

"Relive his youth and hopefully take me out for a haircut. I swear that I'm going to develop an afro or start having to spend tons of time gelling and washing out gel again," Blaine said with a soft sigh.

"I think you might worry even more about your hair than I do, which should qualify you for some sort of award," I joked. "I kind of like the curls. Right now they do look quite camp chic, though. But shorter curls with a small amount of gel to keep them from being frizzy would be a great look on you."

"I'll keep that in mind," Blaine said dryly before he added, "I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to seeing him or not. He and Mom are flying in Friday morning and meeting me in Hanover to go back to the doctor's. So it's not only Saturday, either. Lucky me."

"Maybe lucky you will at least get that cast off. Then I can keep my promise and really teach you how to kayak," I said. "Do you not think he'll be happy to see you?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure I'll be happy to see him either. What if he gets here and ignores me in favor of Schue or something? Or doesn't think that I'm doing a good enough job as a CIT? He didn't want me at home. Why does he want to see me now other than to just be at camp himself?"

"Because he loves you?" I suggested, resting a hand down on Blaine's knee in a gesture I hoped was reassuring. "Maybe he'll show up and just be happy to see how well you're fitting in here. Maybe he'll be proud to see how much you've come out of your shell in a month. When you got here, you were so scared and worried all the time. I bet this is a lot more like the Blaine he's used to seeing. Maybe he'll just be happy to have the real you back."

"Maybe," Blaine said simply. "I guess it won't help to worry about this, will it? I could make a new resolution not to worry about what my father things or does."

"You can't control that part of the future, so I agree. What good does it do to worry about something you have no control over?" I asked, squeezing his leg. "Are you looking forward to seeing your mother? You don't talk about her as much."

"I guess I am. More than my dad at least. She's not always been the warm fuzzy sort of mom that some people have, but I've always known she loves me. She's supported me in my love of theater and didn't even bat an eye when I came out." Blaine paused for a second before he admitted in a softer tone, "I have missed her, as cheesy as that sounds from a sixteen year old."

"I don't think it sounds cheesy at all. I miss my dad every summer. I wish he was coming for Parents' Day, but it's not going to work out this year." It was my turn to sigh now. "Which means I'll never see him for another Parents' Day ever again. It's weird to even say that, but counselors don't have their parents come. I guess it's part of growing up. I had many Parents' Days, though it was sometimes Grandparents' Day for me instead if my dad couldn't come. Now it's my turn to put together and staff Parents' Day for the next generation of campers. Full circle and all that."

"That sounds about right. You and your fancy bed in an actual counselors room and all." Blaine shifted suddenly away from me a second before I could hear the pounding of feet coming through the cabin.

"Kurt? Did you happen to grab my green running shorts?" Sam asked, poking his head around the fabric curtain that sectioned off the counselor room. "Oh! Blaine, hi! Anyway, I can't find them anywhere, but they're not back at the Leadership cabin."

"Do green running shorts sound like my style?" I asked, sliding off the bed to check my dirty laundry for them. That had been close. It was a good thing that Blaine had good hearing, because getting caught sitting like that would have let the cat out of the bag. Rory and Finn were still the only two people at camp who knew that Blaine and I were dating. I was willing to wait for Blaine to be ready to tell everyone else, but if we got caught cuddling together? That would give it away for sure.

 

* * *

 

That Friday, I found myself in the car on the way to Hanover again, though this time it was Wes driving instead of David. There was one other big difference on the drive over. This time, Blaine sang along to the radio right alongside Wes and me.

I'd questioned whether I needed to go, since Blaine's parents were meeting our whole excursion there, but Wes had pointed out that Blaine and I were still technically campers. Him being alone in a car with a camper for that long was a big no no. If Blaine didn't bring a friend, he'd have needed to drag another staff member along.

I would have agreed to come anyway, just because Blaine wanted me there. That said, I was nervous about meeting his parents. What if his father was every bad thing Blaine thought of him, and he hated me on sight?

Just as we had for the last visit, our first stop at the hospital was to get a new x-ray of Blaine's arm. The Andersons were nowhere in sight, so Wes used the medical releases his father had signed for the camp to check Blaine in, while I settled into a chair with the sketchbook I'd brought to occupy myself in waiting rooms. It was only five minutes or so after Blaine had been called back when a neatly dressed couple about my father's age stepped into the room. The man's eyes scanned the room and caught on the logo of last year's staff shirt Wes had put on for the outing.

These must be Blaine's parents then, since they turned to approach us, or at least Wes. I gave them a quick look over, trying not to show my surprise. Somehow I had completely missed the fact that Blaine's mother was Asian. She was a petite woman, with sleek black hair, dressed in a sundress with a short sleeved cardigan over top. She flashed a quick smile at me as her husband addressed Wes, and I could see something of the mask free Blaine in that greeting.

"Good day," Mr. Anderson greeted, offering his hand out towards Wes. "You must have brought my son in? Blaine?" Mr. Anderson wasn't a tall man, but he stood about my height, a few inches taller than his wife or son. His hair was light brown with a wave to it that might be the source of Blaine's curls. He was dressed as neatly in business casual as his wife, despite the flight it had taken to get them here, in a pressed pair of khakis and a forest green polo shirt.

Wes took Mr. Anderson's hand giving him a respectful smile. "I did. You must be Mr. and Mrs. Anderson? My name is Wes Montgomery. I'm Blaine's Unit Leader." Wes glanced to me for a second, apparently considering whether to introduce me before he went on ahead and did it. "And this is Kurt, one of Blaine's friends who came along today." I smiled back, mostly to Mrs. Anderson.

"And my son is?" Mr. Anderson asked, not offering his hand out to shake with me as well.

"I'm sorry we were late getting here," Mrs. Anderson spoke up for the first time. "Our flight was delayed, but thankfully by only half an hour. Sitting on the runway always makes my husband cranky." She smiled, despite the annoyed look on Blaine's father's face. "Well, it does. But it's nice to meet both of you."

"Blaine went back to get his arm x-rayed. It's not something that he needs someone with him for, so we went ahead and got it started without you," Wes admitted, sneaking a quick amused look over at Mrs. Anderson. "I would have tried to wait for the actual appointment with the doctor. We'll have some time between this and that second appointment, if you want to go out into the rest of Hanover." Wes glanced over to Mr. Anderson. "See any old stomping grounds from your counselor days?"

Seeing Mrs. Anderson's nod, I piped in, "I know Blaine was kind of hoping you might take him to get his hair trimmed. Something about not wanting to grow an afro."

His mother laughed and nodded. "That sounds like my son. I think we have a good plan, then. We'll find a place to get him a haircut and then maybe after his appointment, we can take all of you to dinner before you have to get back to camp?"

The question was addressed to Wes who nodded an affirmative. "Sure. His appointment is late enough in the afternoon, we'd probably have to stop for something on the way back anyway. I'll call Schue later and get permission, but I can't imagine he'll say no unless the CITs and JCs have decided to run amuck in my absence."

Mr. Anderson gave me a look over that almost had me fidgeting in my shoes. At the start of the summer it would have. In the middle of July? I just raised my eyebrows and looked back at him, doing my best to hold on to my confidence. It helped that I was dressed in some of the nicer clothes I'd brought to camp, a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a short sleeved button down, and a pinstriped black waistcoat. Good clothes make confidence easier. "Blaine mentioned you in his letters, I think. Kurt, right? You're his big brother?"

I nodded. "I am. We're working with the same cabin of kids as well. Blaine's become a good friend."

"You been at camp long?"

"Since I was eight. I'm a JC now. So, I think that pretty well counts."

Mr. Anderson made a quiet huffing sound. "You working in arts and crafts?"

I stared at him for a moment, mouth slightly agape. Maybe Blaine was right? "That's quite the assumption," I stated in my best ice queen tone. "I'm specializing in archery and kayaking, actually, but if the question was about whether I'm gay? Yes. I'm gay."

Mrs. Anderson looked like she was about ready to slap her husband upside the head, or at least might be mentally imagining such a thing. Blaine's father just shook his head awkwardly. "No. I mean, I didn't mean to insinuate that. I noticed you brought a sketchbook?"

I blushed a bright red at that. Let that teach me to assume. "Oh, right." Admitting I used it more to sketch fashion/costume ideas than anything else probably wouldn't help right here. "I do like to draw, so I thought it might help in waiting rooms."

That was about the time Blaine made his way back out. I was glad to see the grin on his face as he saw his parents moving quickly to wrap his mother up in a hug before his father got a more awkward one. I was also quite glad he'd managed that moment to come join us so I didn't dig myself into any deeper of a hole.

 

* * *

 

The rest of the day went well. I didn't go into the actual doctor's appointment with Blaine this time. He had his mother to hold his hand if he needed it. I had my sketchbook though, so I drew whatever came into my head and bantered with Wes.

Schue had easily given permission for us to stay for dinner, as long as Wes was there along with me. We'd gone to Molly's in Dartmouth's campus town. Mr. Anderson had spent the first part of dinner talking about how much everything had changed since he worked at camp. He and Wes actually had hit it off really well, chatting about camp the whole meal, dragging Blaine and I into stories at times.

After finishing our food, a great black bean burger and sweet potato fries for me, an indulgence into greasy food, we made our way back out onto the street, heading towards the Andersons' car. Apparently they'd brought something with them that they wanted Blaine to be able to take back to camp tonight. So off we traipsed to collect it.

Blaine was in the middle of a story about some crazy antics our campers had gotten into, Wes and Mr. Anderson flanking either side of him as they laughed. It was amazing what a few hours and dinner had done to get Mr. Anderson to loosen up. Maybe some of it was the annoyance of the delayed flight, at Blaine's mother had pointed out. Part of it might have been the stories, falling back into a less stressful, happier time in his life.

I glanced over to Mrs. Anderson, walking beside me, and smiled at the joyous look on her face as she watched her son. She caught me looking and smiled back. "Camp really has been good for him."

I looked over to Blaine, trying to see exactly what his mother was seeing. He really did look happy. His cast was off, the paleness of the skin that had been under it contrasting with the warm glow of the summer tan on the rest of his skin. His hair was cut shorter, and the stylist had added just a bit of gel, containing the curls perfectly. And probably more importantly, from a mother's perspective, he looked comfortable in his skin. Content.

"It has been. There's a reason it's my favorite place in the world," I responded.

"His father and I fought over this," Mrs. Anderson admitted. "After everything that happened, the last thing that I wanted to do was have him far from me. I wanted to keep him tucked under my wing, find him a therapist. Maybe wrap him up in bubble wrap. His father was adamant that he needed something different. That camp would do _this_ for him."

"He's done this for himself," I added, watching Blaine crack up into laughter ahead of us. "We just gave him a safe place to do it, people to support him in that healing. Friends and a camp family."

"You're not just a friend, are you?" she asked curiously, making me flush a deep red.

"What makes you think that?" I stalled, not sure how to answer that question.

"The way you look at each other. Don't worry, I approve of anyone who makes my son happy."

"My guitar!" Blaine interrupted the conversation with his excitement as we must have reached the Andersons' car. Mr. Anderson clicked the locks open, and Blaine pulled out a guitar case that looked more used and worn in than his camp trunk.

"Your mother and I thought you might want it now that you have your cast off," his father said, with a smug smile at Blaine's reaction.

"You play guitar?" Wes interjected happily. "We can always use someone to play for campfires."

As I listened to Wes' plans for Blaine and his guitar, I looked over his mother and shared an amused smile. Today had been a much better day than our last trip to his doctor.

 


	13. Chapter 13

The aftermath of Parents' Day was an influx of homesick kids. Maybe that was real reason they had the JCs move into the cabins right before it. Seth was back in tears on a regular basis for the next few days, but by Wednesday, we'd gotten him to snap out of it again. I was so glad to see smiles back on his face. Homesickness is seriously the bane of my existence. That and kids who puke at 2 am. Finn called that my initiation into being a counselor. I could have lived without it.

Blaine's parents' visit seemed to have gone well, but I, for one, was rather glad to have them safely back in Ohio, especially after his mother so astutely deduced our relationship.

Everything was just back into the swing of camp. It was amazing that we were almost through the fifth week with campers. There were only a bit more than two weeks left of the summer, and I knew they'd fly by. In all honesty, I didn't want camp to end, but I'm was excited for ending camp events all the same. It's so bittersweet.

Thursday afternoon on my break I decided to go down to the porch behind the dining hall that overlooked the lake with some summer reading I'd been neglecting. 

I paused for a moment when I heard music and soft singing before I couldn't help but smiling when I recognized the voice. I made my way closer as quietly as possible hoping not to be noticed, and to have a bit of time to watch Blaine play. He was leaning over his guitar looking down to a piece of paper in front of him. I recognized quickly the song he was softly singing. On the Loose was one of my favorite slower campfire songs.

I cleared my throat finally, deliberately making noise to try not to startle him too much. It wasn't apparently successful though, as I could see Blaine physically jump. I ignored it, not wanting to make him feel embarrassed by calling attention to it. Instead, I slipped down to sit beside him on the wooden bench. "Working on learning the chords?"

"Wes must have ratted me out. Schue asked me to work on a couple of songs to play at campfire this weekend," Blaine explained, pulling his right hand away from the strings to shake out the tension.

I reached over and pulled his hand into mine, massaging the palm and wrist for him. "Probably take a while to get your strength back, huh?" I asked before glancing down to his lyrics sheet. "That's one of my favorite songs: _On the loose to climb a mountain, on the loose where I am free, on the loose to live my life the way I think my life should be._ " I sang just a couple of lines with a smile. "That kind of sums up how I feel about being here. What else did Wes give you?"

"That's what I've been told. About the arm," Blaine agreed with a blissful sigh for my massage. "Feel free to keep doing that. Anyway, I'd rather have the annoyance of getting my wrist back to where it was than that freaking cast." Blaine glanced down to the pile of music in front of him. "Of course, this Saturday has to be mostly songs I've never played. We're apparently singing _Magic_ and _Circle Game_ as well. I guess we're singing _Blackbird_ and _Leaving on a Jet Plane_ at some point this summer, too, but at least I already know those."

"I bet Schue will come up with more, too. You never should have let anyone find that you play guitar," I teased, but I kept up rubbing his wrist, moving up to the muscles in his forearm. "I love all those songs. I'll be looking forward to campfire this week, then. _On the Loose_ and _Magic_ are my favorite campfire songs, so getting to sing them both in one campfire? Perfect."

"Why those two?" Blaine asked curiously, leaning back into the wooden bench. "I'm starting to get the idea that all of you are secretly hippies. Living in the woods. Singing some very folky songs. Plus, I swear some of the CITs have sworn off both showering and deodorant."

I laughed out loud at that last bit. "Maybe it's the inner hippie coming out in all of us. I'd love to see what happens when you try to tell my friends back in Ohio that I have an inner hippie. They'll probably laugh loudly at you." I paused for a moment to think about the answer to that first question. "First, I just like the way they sound. They're really pretty songs, in a simple 'sitting around the campfire' way. It's also in the words, especially in _Magic_. It's just a song about having hope for the future and finding the good things in life."

Blaine finally pulled his hand away from mine to find that song in the pile of sheet music. "Maybe you can help me then. I really don't know the tune to this well enough to sing along and make the chords fit, you know? Can you sing it along with me the first couple of times?"

Who needs to actually finish their summer reading, right? Not when I could be singing with Blaine instead. That sounded like a much better use of my time off. "I suppose I could help you with that." I smiled over coyly, sitting up a bit more for better breath support. At Blaine's nod, I started to sing, going slowly to give him time to try chord progressions.

_When I was young, I thought the stars were made for wishing on_

_And every hole deep in a tree must hide a leprechaun_

_Old houses all had secret rooms if one could find the key_

_But who believes in magic anymore?_

_Magic is the sun that makes a rainbow out of rain_

_And magic keeps the dream alive to try and try again_

_Magic is the love that stays when good friends have to leave_

_I do believe in magic, I believe_

_Growing up the grownups said, one day I'd wake to find_

_That magic's just a childhood dream I'd have to leave behind_

_Like clothes that would no longer fit and toys that I'd ignore_

_I'd not believe in magic anymore_

 

We finished off the rest of the song, and I gave Blaine a chance to wring out his wrist again before I looked down at the music. "You're good, if that was your first time through. It was only the change from the last verse into the chorus differences that threw you. That last verse is what makes it my favorite, I think. That and seeing how true this whole song is as I'm working with the little guys."

Blaine nodded giving me a smile back. "You have a very lovely voice. I know I've said it, but it bears repeating, despite what my feelings on it were after that first dining hall performance I heard," he teased, wrinkling up his nose playfully. "Can we try just that part again?" he asked, working through the chords on the strings with just his left hand.

I stuck my tongue out at Blaine in reply, ever more of a child after almost six weeks at camp. Then I just nodded. "Whenever you're ready." It wasn't long before he nodded back. Like I would have said no to repeating my favorite part of the song.

 

_When I grew up I learned again that much to my surprise_

_That magic did not fade away, it took a new disguise_

_A child, a friend, a song, a smile, the courage to stand tall_

_And love's the greatest magic of them all_

_Magic is the sun that makes a rainbow out of rain_

_And magic keeps the dream alive to try and try again_

_Magic is the love that stays when good friends have to leave_

_I do believe in magic_

_I will always believe in magic_

_Love is the greatest magic_

_I believe_

I let the music of the guitar trail away and then smiled over. "You got it that time," I told him letting the pride show through in my voice.

"I did! Thanks to your help." Blaine opened his case to set his guitar gently down into it. "Anymore right now and I think my hand will permanently cramp up. The doctor did say to start out slowly." He paused before he looked up at me with a nervous look I hadn't seen since the time we talked about his parents impending visit. "I think I'm ready."

"Ready for what?" I asked softly, reaching out to pull his hands back into mine as he settled back beside me on the bench.

"Ready to come out to more people here," Blaine admitted, that nervousness showing in his voice.

I simply nodded for a moment, not sure of what to say until I came up with, "How do you want to do this?"

"Campfire's Saturday this week because the oldest groups leave for trips on Sunday, right? The big CIT trip?" Blaine asked, mulling it over.

"Right. The little guys get a day trip. I think the plan is to shove all of them into buses and take over a water park." I watched Blaine carefully. This is a place where I could stick my foot in it fast. "Did you want to wait until after the trip?"

"I was thinking of maybe talking to Jeff and Nick on the trip. Like towards the end? Maybe even when we're all captive for hours on the bus ride back. We're going to Quebec City, so that's probably a few hours ride, right?" Blaine asked, rubbing one hand down over the slick fabric of his shorts.

"It is. Alright. I think that sounds like a good plan. A captive audience at least. Anyone else you want to tell?" I asked.

"Just Mike and Sam for now, maybe? Wes at some point down the road, I guess." Blaine paused for a moment and gulped. "Would it be a total cop out if I just let you talk to Mike and Sam. Maybe at some point while I'm gone?"

"Whatever you feel comfortable with is not a cop out," I pointed out before I grinned. "I'd be more than happy to do that, though. I've been dying to talk to them about it. I think we have a plan then."

 

* * *

 

Campfire went well. Blaine sounded great on the guitar. All too soon it was time for the CITs to leave on their big trip. I knew I'd miss Blaine, but I also knew that he'd be back on Wednesday evening. I'd survive.

It didn't stop me from pulling him into Cabin 3's counselor room to give him a private goodbye first, though.

Monday all activities were canceled in favor of the big trip to the waterpark for all the 8-12-year-olds. A whole day on concrete with the sun beating down seemed like a recipe for disaster for my skin. I was already sporting rather more freckles than I started the summer with, even with my devotion to sunscreen. I made sure to choose one of my long sleeved rash guards, a deep blue along with a longer pair of blue and white plaid board shorts. That was about as much skin coverage as I could manage without resorting to a horribly unfashionable floppy hat or something. I'd just have to stick with the sunscreen, although the crazy tan lines on my feet from the Chaco sandals I wore everywhere demonstrated that I could in fact tan. It was just that my tan is everyone else's pale.

Since we had so many counselors with us, the JCs got most of the day off and were just given instructions not to clump together as a whole group. We were backup if we spread out through the park, and we had a schedule to make sure the counselors in our cabins got at least a few minutes to pee without children.

This was the moment I'd chosen for my talk with Sam and Mike. I honestly wasn't worried about it, beyond keeping Sam from making inappropriate comments in front of other people. These were the first two people I'd come out to, and that had gone better than the younger me had expected.

I enticed them to join me at a deserted set of beach chairs with a basket of French fries. I offered them over after taking two or three myself to keep up the show.

Mike took a few as Sam helped himself to a handful and raised his eyebrows at me. "What's up?" Mike asked curiously. "I know you. French fries aren't your style of food, which means you chose this just to lure us over."

Damn Mike's brains sometimes. I shrugged as Sam looked up curiously just seeming to realize I might have ulterior motives. "There's something I wanted to talk about. I want to point out first that I wish I'd been able to tell you all of this earlier, but I was respecting someone's privacy in keeping it to myself."

"And now you don't need to?" Sam asked curiously, licking salt and grease from his fingers before reaching out to grab more fries.

"Ew, Sam. You're sticking all your germs into the basket doing that," I pointed out, wrinkling my nose.

"It's not like we don't share germs anyway," he pointed out. "Well, maybe less now, but sleeping in such close quarters earlier this summer must have wrapped us all in the same germiness."

"Still. Hygiene is your friend." I shook my head, trying not to laugh at the amusedly frustrated look on Mike's face. "Anyway, yes, now I don't need to. But I do need to ask you to not spread this around camp. He's ready to be more public, but not that public."

"He? Blaine?" Mike asked, curiosity still front and center as he reached out to snag a fry that wasn't from the same part of the basket Sam had been sticking the fingers he'd licked in.

"Yeah. Blaine." I must have had some kind of dreamy look because Mike and Sam were both snickering quietly at me. "Shut up," I insisted before trudging on. "One reason that Blaine and I have bonded is because his problems stemmed from something that I'm intimately familiar with, being bullied because he's gay."

Mike considered that for moment. "That really makes sense. It wouldn't be the first thing I'd think of for Blaine, but it makes everything rather fit."

Sam piped up, "So are you two close or are you _close_?" He waggled his eyebrows teasingly. Maybe it was best Blaine had me do this without him.

I reached out to whack Sam lightly upside the head, trying to distract from the flush of red on my cheeks. "Shut up. Yes, we're close. It's not like we're in a position to go on dates or anything, but we've been sort of seeing each other."

"Dude. I should have known something was going on when he was all snuggled up on your bed the day we moved," Sam pointed out with a teasing smirk still firmly in place.

Mike rolled his eyes over towards Sam and then gave me a smile. "I suppose congratulations are in order. Your first summer romance. I've got Tina. You've got Blaine. Now we just need to find someone for Sam."

I laughed, both their reactions were about what I would have suspected. "Who would we impose that on?" I teased back. "We need to teach him manners first." I paused just a second before adding more seriously, "You know you need to be careful who hears about this, right? I don't want Blaine outed to the camp before he's ready for that."

Sam stuck his tongue out at both of us before he sighed. "Alright. I'll keep the quips for your ears only."

"Who else knows? So we know who it's safe to talk in front of?" Mike asked, stretching out on the chair to bask in the sunshine.

"At camp? Finn and Rory. I know that Blaine's planning to talk to Jeff and Nick about it on this trip. That's it. Well, out of camp you can add Blaine's mom. She's crazy observant." I reached out to grab one more fry from the part Mike had been eating from before we let Sam demolish the rest. "So, which slides do you want to go on next? We could race on the tall ones," I suggested, letting the conversation move off to a new topic. I might not love the sun and chlorine, but I did love the adrenaline rush of the slides at the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I put up Youtube video for some of the camp songs mentioned in this chapter in case anyone is interested at my ‘still trying to figure this thing out’ tumblr. It’s Tonks42.


	14. Chapter 14

Blaine fell into step beside me as we left the dining hall the next Friday, having survived the few days apart while Blaine lived it up in Quebec City. Or saw the sights, whatever. "What's this Color War thing they were chanting about?"

I stopped in my tracks looking over to him with raised eyebrows. "Really? In all the years of living with your Dad and your brother you've never heard them tell Color War stories?" I asked incredulously.

"Should I have?" Blaine asked right back before he admitted, "I may have had a tendency to tune out their camp stories. I never wanted to be here, so what was the point in hearing about it?"

I shook with silent laughter at that last part. "Oh how the mighty have fallen," I teased lightly before I started to stroll back towards the cabin again. "Color War is one of the big end of the summer events. It will 'break' or open tomorrow night or sometime Sunday. Maybe Monday at the latest. If it breaks tomorrow night, it will run until Wednesday evening. Sunday morning will be as lazy as usual, except for the leaders, but then it's three and a half days of competition."

"That's a long event," Blaine noted. "Even Olympics only took a couple hours Saturday besides the normal Sunday afternoon competition time."

"It's huge. The whole camp gets broken into two teams. Camp Cardigan uses Green and Grey for our camp colors. They compete in just about every activity they learned the whole summer. There's also songs written, skits performed, and a banner made for each group. The point is to give campers a chance to highlight their skills even if they're not athletic." I shrugged. "Every camper has to participate in a certain number of events. It's a really, really big deal."

"Sounds like a lot of work," Blaine pointed out. "Are we on a team?"

"That might be why we haven't seen as much of Schue and the Unit Leaders and activity heads this week. I bet they've been closeted together working on it." I replied, before I shook my head. "Nope. We have our own team, the Red team. Three counselors watch over each team. The rest of the counselors are with us. We're the ones in charge of judging and running events."

Blaine nodded. "That makes sense. Impartial judges, right?"

"Right." I grinned. "And since we have to wear as much red or orange as possible, you're in luck. I've seen your wardrobe. Red abounds in it," I teased. "The real leadership on each team are two fifteen-year-olds, the Captain and Lieutenant, and a thirteen year old Sargent. It's a big honor to be chosen for that. Or to be a counselor chosen to be on a team."

"Honor right. Who were the captains when you were fifteen?" Blaine asked curiously as we reached the porch.

I leaned against the wooden railing and shrugged sheepishly. "Sam and I. Mike was my team's Lieutenant. Honestly, it meant a lot. That I'd come out just a few weeks before, and they still chose me, you know? Not all the campers get to come back as CITs. It's considered a privilege, and not all the CITs may end up getting to become JCs, though that's rarer. Being a Color War officer makes you almost a shoe in."

Blaine grinned over. "Of course you were. Wasn't the fact that you're popular here the first thing I noticed about you?" he teased right back. "That's something I can use to win my dad over to this relationship if I need to right? Oh, speaking of which." He glanced around quickly. The boys were all inside making a cheerfully large amount of noise as they changed into swimsuits for our evening activity, pretending to surf with the boards from windsurfing, a cabin favorite. "I think Wes knows about us."

I blinked in surprise, not expecting that. "What makes you think that?"

"He pulled me aside at rest hour today to have a talk about camp staff rules regarding PDA. Just out of the blue." Blaine's cheeks heated with a blush as he admitted that.

"Awkward," I noted before I nodded. "Sounds like he does. Or at least suspects. Does that bother you?"

"I thought it might, but it really doesn't." Blaine shrugged. "I know that no one is going to hurt me for it here, intellectually at least, and all the people who I'd really worry about just disapproving know and, not only to do they not care, they actually seem to think our relationship is a good thing."

"Quite a change from what we'll get back home, huh? I think I'll spend the next week basking in that."

"I think I need to head back to my cabin to change into swim gear. I'll meet all of you at the beach?"

* * *

 

I knew something was up when Wes called a Junior Counselor meeting after lunch on Saturday.

It was odd to be back in the cabin we'd shared for the first part of summer. I was even sitting on my original cot in the corner, sandwiched between Sam and Mike.

I knew something was even more up when I saw Schue standing at the front of the little open area beside Wes. We hadn't done anything bad enough to get a lecture from Schue lately, that I knew of anyway.

"As many of you have probably guessed, we're breaking Color War tonight," Schue announced, then had to pause while we all chattered excitedly for a moment. We knew better than to whoop and holler. That would give everything away, if this already hadn't. "Due to the schedule of the girls camp, we had to schedule the last social for tonight. The Seniors are here, and you're going over to girls side. The story we're spreading is that we've decided to have a supervised co-ed lock-in just for the JCs. That part is actually true. You all can pack sleeping bags and PJs for a movie fest in their playhouse. Everything will just have to stay packed away until both camps finish their breaks."

We nodded and Sam leaned across Mike to give him a high five. "Whole night with the girls!" he mouthed over.

"Like you have someone to spend it with," I whispered back.

Wes held up his hand, waiting for us to stop talking before he added, "I will be there and so will my partner in crime from their side. We will be strictly enforcing the PDA rules. No hanky panky will be allowed." He might have just looked straight at Sam at that last part, too.

"We're doing a nighttime break. I need all of you to round up a layer of all black clothes and bring them here while you're packing. After the CITs leave the social, we'll sneak you back here to get your gear on. Each of you will wake up one cabin to bring them to the field. Unless you get assigned junior cabins, and no one is waking up their own kids, we're painting your faces black. You'll have a torch for light. The counselors know to get the kids in shoes and follow you. You will not say a word the whole time. We'll be ringing the bell slowly. Your goal is to knock at the same speed."

"We're going with the freak out the older campers mode this year?" Sam whispered over with a grin on his face.

"Seems like it," Mike whispered back.

"This is going to be fun," I added with a grin.

 

* * *

 

Walking beside Blaine to the last social of the year had to bring back memories of walking beside him to the first. It was hard to believe that it had only been six weeks before. That I'd only known him for seven. It felt like I'd known him forever.

On our last walk, he'd come out to me. Apparently coming out was going to be a theme of walking towards our sister camp.

"If I ask you to slow dance with me tonight, will you?" Blaine asked over, eyes wide and showing all the joy and nervousness going through him at that question.

"Of course," I answered quickly before adding, "Are you sure you're ready for that?" I knew there was so much more behind this than simply coming out, even. This was sure to bring back memories of the last dance he'd gone to with a boy.

"I am. I'm going to have to face this sometime. The longer I leave it, the more chance it'll have to fester. Besides, better here than back in Ohio, right?" Blaine said, hands clenched at his side.

I had to admire his bravery here, just in making that choice, so how could I do anything but nod agreement?

 

* * *

 

This social was structured a lot like the first one. In between we'd had sports games together, a bingo night, and even a night of karaoke. Now we were back to a spot to hang out and space to dance.

"Our last social. Ever really," Sam stated, wrapping his arms around Mike and I's shoulders. "Let's make the best of it boys!"

"Thus says the single man," I joked shrugging off his arm with a grin to take the sting out. "Is it too late for your summer fling?"

"Never too late!" Sam enthused with a big grin.

"By all means then, Kurt, set him up and stop having him talk like this." Mike joked with a roll of his eyes. "Now, I'm off to find Tina, and I'm sure Kurt wants to reconnect himself to Blaine's side. Maybe you should try the fine art of flirting, Sam?"

At Mike's mention of Blaine I glanced around, looking to see where he'd gotten off to. I spotted him off to the side, talking to a group including Nick, Nick's current fling, and Mercedes. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll go do just that."

With a last wave, I made my way over, sliding my arm around Blaine's waist, giving in to more PDA than we'd ever committed in public. Blaine tensed for just a second then smiled shyly over at me, resting his head on my shoulder for just a second.

I could see that that was the exact moment that Mercedes realized just what our relationship was. Her eyes got big, and a smile flashed up on her face. "Kurt," she greeted, but I could tell that wasn't going to be the end of the comments for the night.

"Mercedes," I replied simply, smirking back.

"Is there something you've been remiss in telling me?" she asked, grin still lighting up her face.

"Maybe," I said, giving Blaine a reassuring squeeze. I could practically feel the blush heating up his cheeks.

Nick glanced over at that and then grinned between us. "Took them long enough to tell any of us," he pointed out, casually accepting of our relationship. "Feel free to give them hell for that."

"That was my fault," Blaine admitted softly, clearly not completely comfortable with this conversation. "I asked him to wait."

"And I was happy to, however long it took you to be comfortable," I reassured before just beaming at Mercedes. "I finally got the chance for a summer relationship. And it's been amazing." I turned to stick my tongue out at Nick for the playful gagging noises he was making. I'm sure that was going a long way toward winning the heart of the girl with him.

"I think it's sweet," Mercedes insisted, reaching out to grab me by the arm, giving the one that wasn't wrapped around Blaine a gentle yank. "Come tell me more."

After a quick glance, checking in with Blaine, I left him there with Nick, heading off to give Mercedes a play by play, though I did leave out a few details of Blaine's story.

We'd settled down onto one of the old ragged couches set off to the side of the room, gossiping cheerfully. The subject had moved from Blaine and I to Tina and Mike by the time Blaine stepped over, a hopeful look on his face.

"Are you still up for a dance with me?" he asked, eyes in full puppy dog mode.

Mercedes pushed me up, as if I would have said no to that in the first place. "Go. We'll have more time to catch up at the sleepover."

I took Blaine's hand, smiling widely. "Of course I am, Blaine. Yes, Mercedes. Save me space for my sleeping bag if you set up first, alright?" I told Mercedes before letting Blaine lead me off onto the dance floor.

The first few moments were the end of a faster song, so I got a chance to show off the sillier of my moves, getting Blaine to crack up. That had the been the intent, hoping to kill the last of his nerves.

As it faded into a slower song, I offered my hand out to Blaine, feeling the slight tremor in his as he took it. I could hear the hush of a whisper through the room. It was a hell of a way for Blaine to come out to the rest of the camp if nothing else. I knew that as soon as the CITs and JCs were back over to our side of the lake, this would fly around the whole staff.

"You are so wonderfully brave," I whispered close to his ear, letting him take the lead in this slow sway to the beat.

"I want to be. I don't want to let any of this beat me."

"It won't. And I'll be right here beside you as long as you want me here."

 

* * *

 

 

There was a huge thrum of excitement on the walk back around the lake. We'd let the CITs get a head start on us, but we weren't bothering being quiet quite yet. I got a whole lot of pats on the back and congratulations on 'getting some' from the rest of the JC guys. I could swear that Wes had the smuggest little look on his face at having his suspicions confirmed.

"Hush!" he finally called out, pulling all of us aside into the same little clearing I'd had that first heart to heart with Blaine in so long ago. Decades, it felt like. Wes snapped on his flashlight. "There will be no talking at camp above a whisper and then only as necessary," he insisted. "So we'll go over assignments here. The bell will start ringing at 10:30 sharp, so we have exactly a half hour to be in place."

I turned to grin over at Sam. I couldn't wait to do this. "This is going to be perfect," I whispered over. "Telling everyone we're staying on on the girl's side means no one will be expecting this."

"Exactly," Wes said, even if I hadn't meant for him to overhear. "As long as all of you can be _quiet_." He looked right at Sam and I with raised eyebrows. I just grinned back, but I nodded. I got the message there. "Assignments. Tyler, Cabin one and two. Sam, three and four. No face paint for the two of you. Sorry." Wes continued down the list until he called out my name. "Kurt. I know they were your group last summer, so you get the fine honor of trying to scare the shit out of the fifteen-year-olds. They're old enough for you to go for it."

I flashed a bright smile back over. "I can handle that."

We made our way back to the dining hall, where a couple of counselors had moved our black clothes during the seniors dance. We changed silently, and I got the pleasure of smearing black paint all over Mike's face. He returned the favor and then reached out for the final element digging into his pocket to pull out a tube of lipstick.

I raised my eyebrows curiously over at him, getting a whispered reply of. "I got this from Tina." Well that half explained it.

The rest of it was explained when he opened it. The light color of the lipstick would make our lips stand out from the black paint of our face. "It's supposed to glow in the dark."

"Thank goodness for Tina's unique fashion sense," I whispered back, letting him use a q-tip to apply it to my lips.

At ten twenty five, we all assembled on the porch to gather up the torches that had been waiting for us. I swear they were probably full size tiki torches in another life, but at least they hadn't asked one of the British staff to fill a box with torches. Then we'd have probably ended up with a ton of flashlights. Not nearly as good for this as even freaking tiki torches. Wes quietly lit all of them up then with a nod, sent us off in search of our cabins.

Everything went so fast from there. Right on cue the bell started to ring, and I reached out to knock on the door of the extra large cabin that the fifteen-year-olds shared. There was an excited flutter of voices inside, leaving me knocking for awhile before someone finally pulled the door open, giving a satisfying shriek at my appearance.

I stood stock still simply staring at all of them while they shoved shoes on. Then I turned and started silently off towards the sports fields, just assuming they'd all follow me. Their fault if they didn't.

"Is that Kurt?" I heard whispered behind me as we neared the bonfire that blazed in a dead spot between fields.

Suddenly, Schue's voice called out over the crowd of campers, silencing them. I moved with the rest of the JCs to ring the fire, giving Sam a quick grin as we settled next to each other. "Welcome! I hope all of you are having a pleasant dream. Dreaming perhaps of Color War?"

A cheer went up, especially loudly from the oldest boys I'd brought. "Well then, I suppose we had better make that dream a reality! Welcome to Color War 2011."

David had the best job there really, as the Seniors UL, walking out into the crowd of boys to start pulling up the officers, leaning down to whisper congratulations into each of their ears. From there it always started to drag a bit for me. Boys were pulled aside into their units for each Unit Leader to start passing out blue or grey tokens, letting boys know of their assigned teams. I could see that Thad had the juniors well under control. That had always been an exciting moment as a camper, but now? Kind of boring. Once the boys were all divided there was finally a lull in the voices again as Schue called everyone back together.

The boys had teams but no counselors. That would be the last big event here before Finn and Rory faced the task of attempting to get the boys back to sleep. I was glad that tomorrow would include a chance to sleep in. Not like I'd be getting sleep either way though. I had full plans to spend most of the night whispering with Mercedes.

"This year, we had a wonderful group of counselors leaving us a difficult choice of team leaders!" Schue called out. I clapped around the torch as the first pair were called out, two supremely organized people. The next pair called out made my life for the next week that much busier.

"For the Grey team, Finn! For the Green team, Puck!" Yep. Finn would have so little time for the cabin that Rory and I would be picking up slack. Fun. Well, that's what those two were made team leaders for. Fun and spirit. At least the picking up the slack wouldn't have to start until tomorrow. As everyone started to disperse back towards their cabins, calling out team cheers, the JCs extinguished our torches to hike back through the dark around the lake to where our sleepover things were already waiting for us.

 

* * *

 

The girls had produced several packs of baby wipes upon seeing our faces, each yanking one of us closer to wipe the black gunk off. Mercedes ran a wipe over my cheek as I whispered, "I bet you wish Sam hadn't been skipped on the makeup."

She smacked my shoulder laughing. "Shut up or I won't show you what I brought, just for you, for when we get the worst of this off."

"Skin care products? For that I can stop the teasing. This was fun, but it'll be hell on my complexion," I whined lightly.

"Deal," Mercedes noted, reaching in her backpack to pull out a good brand of actual makeup removing wipes. "Nothing fancy, but it'll get this out of your pores."

"God yes. I knew there was a reason I was your friend."


	15. Chapter 15

 

I sank down to sit between Blaine and Mike on the floor of the camp library. The building was really more of a multipurpose space. Sure there were a few bookshelves full of children's and teen novels, but the room was more a place of worn comfy couches and a TV used for cabin or unit movie nights.

Today it was the site of the first Red Team meeting. The campers were all out meeting in their respective teams, and the rest of the staff and Jr. staff was here, packed into the room and dressed in varying shades of red and orange. The counselors had commandeered the couches, leaving the floor space for the Jr. staff, and whatever counselors couldn't cram themselves onto four rickety sofas.

"Sorry I was running late," I whispered. "Thanks for saving room for me to plant my butt. Liam was having a wardrobe crisis. He was so worried about the fact the he didn't have a grey shirt to wear. Alex saved the day by loaning him a t-shirt. I'll have to have Finn impress upon him later that white and black are alright, too. He didn't seem to believe me."

Blaine laughed at that, grinning over at me. "Leave it to Liam to have a wardrobe crisis at camp."

"You'd be laughing less if it'd been you that'd been there having to deal with it," I pointed out reaching out to straighten the collar on the red polo shirt Blaine was wearing. "You are looking rather dapper today." It was a dressier choice for camp, despite the fact that he'd left his hair in the loose curls he'd worn since about the third week or so.

There was a flutter of whispers behind us, and I could feel Blaine tense beside me. "Don't let them get to you. There'll be a new source of news by supper time," I whispered over.

Schue chose that moment to speak up, flanked at the front by all the Unit Leaders. My inner bitch had to grin at the look I could see Wes giving the whisperers. They'd stop gossiping if they knew what was good for them. "Alright, welcome to the Red Team!" Schue started off, pausing when we all let out a whooping cheer. "We'll have far less reason to meet, but let's take this one to review rules and go over schedules. I know this all old hat for some of you, but this is the first color war for many of you as well." I leaned over to nudge Blaine lightly at that, getting a smile in return.

"We'll be going straight from here to set the dining hall up for lunch. During color war, the campers eat as a team. We'll shove all the tables together into long rows, with two set in between for the leadership of each team. Be glad that none of you are working through every meal this week." I glanced over to Mike with a sympathetic smile. It was two summers ago, but the memory of all those crazy hours planning strategy and performances for seventy-ish other campers was still pretty fresh in my mind. "Yes, that means we'll be setting up tables on one side of the hall for all of you. Please don't get too crazy, and know that you're still on duty if a camper needs something. Let's see, last piece for the dining hall, campers have to be on their best behavior, or they can lose their teams points. That includes refraining from singing. You lot are welcome to sing as loudly and often as you wish, however."

Schue had to pause again for a rustle of amused chatter spreading through the staff at that news. "Your Unit Leaders will have your schedule of duties for the week. JCs see the ULs for your assigned cabins. CITs see Wes." Wes waved his hand, as if any CIT on camp didn't know who he was. "We've worked hard to try to give you some down time in between events. We may have assigned you to help with closing camp procedures as well, like the massive task of inventorying Arts and Crafts. Please make sure you are on time to all events and report all scores to Wes. He's keeping the tally this year."

 

* * *

 

 

Monday brought Color War into full swing, and by supper time, Blaine had a pretty good idea of what the competition was about. I could see the grin on his face as I walked up to him outside the dining hall. "Having a good time?" I asked, resting my hand on his shoulder for just a moment. We were really careful with the PDA, but that was something that would have been okay with any of my friends, right?

Blaine just grinned back. "I am! This afternoon I was helping to run a scavenger hunt for the juniors. It was great. They were having so much fun. It was a bit hilarious because you could tell some of the international staff had written the list. It took the kids a moment to figure out what a 'yellow jumper' was."

I laughed at that bit, tucking my hands down in the pockets of my jeans. "I can't wait for the Apache Relay tonight. Terribly un-PC name, but it's a ton of fun." Blaine raised his eyebrows curiously, so I continued on. "Right after dinner while the teams meet, we'll set up events all over camp. It's a huge relay where they have to stop and compete in different events. I'm not sure what they'll have you doing, but I know I'm going to end up guarding the far dock from one of the playaks. It's great fun. Always ends with the captain of each team having to build a fire to burn through a rope. Hope they're up on their outdoors skills. Then one of their counselors has to speed eat a pie, no hands allowed. One of the counselors on each team has to ride alongside the whole thing on a bike, so I bet you'll see Finn around, though they might have him save his energy for the pie."

Blaine nodded. "That sounds like a bit of chaos."

"It is. Entertaining chaos," I insisted, even if it was partly drowned out by the beginning of the green team singing. Each team was standing in a long line by one of the dining hall's doors. This was the one song they could sing for the meal, so they were making the best of it. It'd be lucky if the green team still had lungs to cheer tonight. Puck's voice rose above them all as he sprinted down the line, giving all the guys a high five as they starting to file into the dining hall.

The grey team followed in similar fashion before the staff of the red team could follow inside. We'd pushed tables together for the counselors to make big squares. We were a little bit squished along the sides, but it was great to sit with a bigger group of people. There was space next to Nick for Blaine and I to squeeze in.

"I do miss having a fifteen year old to get food for us," Jeff complained with a sigh as he carried a tray of food over to set it down on the table's center. "But at least we're having Thanksgiving!"

I laughed, reaching out to start grabbing dishes to pass, helping myself to some turkey, potatoes, and vegetables. "Thanksgiving is one of my favorites," I admitted. I'd be hard pressed to admit it, especially to friends at home, but I love the camp mashed potatoes. The cook uses red potatoes and leaves the skins in. So good.

Meals were so much more relaxed this week, not having to worry about watching every move of a table of boys. It was nice to be able to just sit by my friends, instead of wherever the UL in charge of table placements that week stuck me. Everything lapsed into silence for a moment as we started to eat. A table full of teenage boys could really shovel in the food, as Nick and Blaine on either side of me seemed to be trying to demonstrate.

I speared a green bean and looked over the crowded dining hall. "Always reminds me a bit of the house table in Harry Potter when they do this," I pointed out.

Blaine swallowed long enough to agree. "But does that make us Gryffindor and the whole rest of the lot Slytherin? They're in the colors for it."

I laughed at that then glanced towards the tables of leadership for each team. "How's your brother Dan holding up?" I aimed towards Nick, trying to drag him into the conversation.

"He came over to see me earlier and steal all my green clothing," Nick said, pausing to take a drink of his lemonade. "Being Sargent is wearing on him a bit, I think, but he'd never admit it. If you ask him, he's got as much energy as the energizer bunny. I think he could use a nap."

"I'm sure he could, though I doubt he'll get one until Thursday." I grinned over, reaching out to dish up a bit more of the potatoes onto my plate. "We, on the other hand, could probably fit in time tomorrow."

Jeff nodded then grinned, leaning over Nick. "It's rather too quiet in here. I think we may need to do something about that."

"Song?" Blaine questioned, catching on quickly.

"Song," Jeff confirmed, pausing for a moment. "Something call and repeat. See if we can get anyone to slip."

"How about _Boom Chicka Boom_?" Nick suggested, glancing to the other staff tables. "If we start it, I bet they'll all join in."

" _Boom Chicka Boom_ it is." I confirmed. My poor mashed potatoes were about to be neglected. Ah well, it would be worth it. "On three?" I checked for nods and then quietly counted off. On three, all of us yelled, more than sang, in unison, "I said a boom chicka boom!"

There was only a reply of a few seconds before the rest of the staff answered back with the same line, and we were off into the high energy song. By the second verse (a little bit louder), we were up standing on our chairs. It was fun to see the look on the campers' faces. They so wanted to join in, but they restrained themselves well.

We finished off with Parent Style, a personal favorite. I mean, what isn't hilarious about singing in your best mocking tone, while wagging a finger, "I said a go to your room! I said a go to your room! I said a go to your room and don't come out 'til next June!" All of us slid back into our seats, despite the fact our dusty sandals had just been on them.

I let out a long peal of laughter, Thanksgiving food forgotten on my plate."God, I'm going to miss all of you and all of this so much. Why do we ever have to go home?"

 

* * *

 

Tuesday afternoon found me across the lake at a small beach, settling myself into my favorite of the camp kayaks. I turned to fiddle with one of the fastenings on my life jacket, adjusting the tension until it was just right. I pushed off into the water and paddled over towards Joe, waiting for them to be ready to start the event.

"Hey, man," Joe greeted, just floating in the water with his paddle resting across his lap. "You ready for this?"

"This is easy enough for me. We're just paddling across the lake. I think the question is more if the campers are ready." I glanced back to the swimmers still standing on the shore, gathered around David and listening to instructions.

"You know we signal the motorboat if our camper is having difficulty, right?" Joe asked, using his hand to gently correct course. The lake was smooth today, almost like glass on this windless day.

"I know. I did this last year. Hell, I swam it when I was fourteen. Came in third, but I made it across." That was the trick. There were four older campers waiting to swim the lake. This was, out of all the color war events, one of the few that was all about endurance. This and the longer foot race. The lake was about three quarters of a mile across. That made for one long swim.

"Makes me kind of nervous," Joe admitted, though he looked nothing but laid back. "The lake's deep. If one of them went under..."

"That's why they have to be approved by David to even compete in this. These are some of the strongest swimmers. And that's why there's one of us to stay beside each of them. The trick is to see they're tiring before there's time to go under. They are allowed to rest on your boat, you know, as long as you're not paddling." I pointed out. Though really? If it came to that, I'd be signaling for the motor boat to come get him. I understood Joe's nerves in a way I never would have racing this at fourteen. It's amazing what a difference in perspective just a few years and some responsibility can bring.

David signaled the start of the race, and I paddled away from Joe with a wave, shadowing the lanky blond I'd been assigned across the lake. He was a good swimmer, in good shape. I kept an eye on him, but the relatively slow pace gave my thoughts time to wander as well.

I realized on that lake that I really didn't feel one bit like a camper anymore. That I wasn't a camper. This summer had been a wonderful amount of fun, but it hadn't been all about me. Not the way my camper years had been. Maybe that's what it meant to be a counselor. To have such a great time, but to know that your fun is second to making sure that your campers are safe. That they're happy and having a good experience.

I feel like that started this summer with Blaine. That he'd moved from being my camper to being my friend. And now he was just about the best thing to ever happen to me. Knowing I'd have him to talk to about it all made the idea of going back to Ohio in a few days seem less like the realm of Hell I'd been fearing. Two hours drive wasn't that far away, right?

 

* * *

 

Blaine sank down beside me on a bench toward the back of the Playhouse, a relaxed grin on his face. He took advantage of the number of people sitting around us to sit close, pressing the heat of his thigh up against mine. It still amazed me how simple touches could feel like much more. It certainly didn't feel the same way when Nick or Sam got shoved up against me in close quarters. That felt slightly uncomfortable. This had the power to take my breath away.

"So this is the last event?" Blaine broke into my reverie to ask.

I nodded my head, glancing up to where Finn was directing a crowd of campers in white Camp Cardigan shirts. "Last event, and always one of my favorites. It's worth a ton of points, too. This and the banners we voted on after dinner."

"So each team has a song and a skit?" he asked, giving Jared a wave, from where the little boy was practically bouncing on stage.

"Right. Well, two songs. A slow, sappy number and a fast upbeat one." I waved as well, getting more of a kick out of it than I'd have thought back in June at the way Jared beamed proudly down at us. Happy his counselors had seen him and taken the time to wave. "The skits are my favorite part. Basically, they're a way to make fun of the staff and the summer. The key there is to stay on the tasteful side. I hope Puck didn't pull his team astray there," I joked.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. He's not the only leader of the team," Blaine pointed out, before the captain of the grey team was stepping forward, taking a deep breath before he quieted the room and introduced his team's alma mater.

That warmth of pride I'd had watching Jared came back. Ian had been in the cabin I'd worked with last summer. Watching him stand up and lead half the camp was amazing. I had no desire to be back in his place, though. I remembered the absolute exhaustion I'd felt by that point in the week. Happy, but so, so tired after super late nights of planning and helping create songs and banners and long days spent maintaining an almost forced level of enthusiasm. Maybe it was part of feeling like an actual counselor, but I I was just happy to see Ian succeeding so well.

Both teams did well, the kids staying in steady rhythm and not messing up the words too badly. I'd definitely owe Puck a shove later though. I had a feeling I knew who was behind the inclusion of one character in the green team's skit.

Nick's little brother Dan had come out dressed super in tight jeans and a vest over his camp t-shirt, instructing a group of campers on the proper use of sunscreen and moisturizer, among other things.

Blaine winced beside me as we followed the crowd of staff, turning in ballots and moving towards the campfire ring. "I'm not sure that was very nice of the green team."

"I won't say that part of me doesn't want to kill Puck for that," I told Blaine, finding a spot towards the back of the wooden benches to sit, so we could keep talking. "But at the same time it makes me feel strangely accepted." I shook my head. "If some idiot at school did that, I'd be horribly hurt, because I'd know the motivation was to make fun of me."

I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts and then kept going with a shrug. "Actually, I can't say that they weren't making fun of me, but it's a different kind of it. Friendly making fun, if that makes any sense. In a way, it's a good thing. If you noticed, they made fun of everyone they portrayed, including David and Schue. Being chosen to be made fun of in a color war skit really just means that people like you. Goes all the way back to that whole being popular thing that you noticed."

Blaine nodded, considering that. "I guess I see your point," he conceded then glanced over to the quiet song starting to ripple through the crowd, starting with some of the oldest campers. "Are they really singing about wanting a tie? After the fierce way they've competed this week?" he asked incredulously.

I just shrugged again. "It's tradition. I don't know how many of them truly mean it deep down, but well, that's camp. The competition is about competition. It's about playing hard and getting to show off your absolute best. In the end, the winners will be excited, but they'll recognize that their friends aren't."

Schue reappeared at that moment, holding a lit torch, probably one of the modified tikis again, and a sheet of paper. "Color War 2011 was well played. You all fought hard for your team and showed your Cardigan sportsmanship. That makes all of you winners in my book." There was a rustle of muffled laughter at that cheesiness before Schue picked back up. "But as you know, there can only be one team with their win recorded on the plaque in the dining hall. So let's get to the results.  Thirty points for the alma mater goes to Green!" The singing about a tie was forgotten in the cheers. "Thirty points for the fight song goes to Grey!" The other half of the crowd erupted in excitement. "And finally, forty points for the skit goes to... Grey!"

Schue turned his torch to the wire frame behind him, lighting the letters G R E on fire before he turned back. "And the winner of Color War 2011 is..." He turned back, pausing dramatically for a moment before he lit the Y, letting the word Grey burn brightly for a few minutes while the team cheered loudly. There was the click of cameras taking pictures of the burning word before he turned, lighting up the other E and the N to let the whole thing burn.

I stared out at the burning letters for a moment before I sighed. "Finn is going to be insufferable."

 


	16. Chapter 16

Thursday was shaping up to be a fairly lazy day. Color War was over, and the day was pretty much a free for all for the campers. In the morning, I spent most of my time at archery. Technically, I was there to help campers who were trying to score the last few points needed to advance to a new level. In reality, it was mostly groups of campers wandering by together and stopping in to talk and shoot a few rounds before they moved on to a new activity.

I had plenty of time to shoot between groups, along with the other counselors. Archery was one of the many things from camp that I never did at home, so it was good to have a last chance. It's not that people don't own bows and arrows in Ohio. It's just that most people with bows and arrows in Ohio are hard core hunters. The idea of me dressed all in camo sitting out in the woods and trying to shoot poor Bambi is just absurd. Not that they'd probably welcome me anyway.

After lunch, I changed into the ever common, for me, board shorts and rash guard and made my way down to the docks. Technically, I was supposed to be working with any campers who came along to test out of canoe or kayak skills. This time, in reality, I was there to continue kayaking lessons with a certain curly haired boyfriend of mine. Unless it got super busy down here, Joe had cleared me to take Blaine out and work with him.

Speaking of which, he'd beaten me here. My breath caught in my throat at the sight of him. He should really walk around in just swim trunks all the time. It was really too bad that we'd have to cover up some of that glorious skin with a life jacket.

I snapped out of my reverie to realize that Blaine had been talking to me. "What?"

It took a moment for Blaine to figure out what had just happened. He paused, a blush seeping into his skin as he looked over toward me with an expression that changed moment to moment between looking rather proud and quite self-conscious. In the end, he just settled for an amused shake of his head.

I grabbed a life jacket in his size and stepped closer to hand it to him, leaning in to whisper, "It's not my fault that I have a boyfriend who is so nice to look at without a shirt on."

 

* * *

 

 

The last few nights of camp, we took full opportunity to be sappy, despite the fact that there were so many seemingly 'tough' guys around. On Thursday night, we gathered in the  playhouse, filling all the wooden benches of the place. Tradition dictated that the color war captains filled one of their trunks with mementos of the summer. Along with the typical campfire songs, we all watched them 'unpack' the trunk, sharing memories and jokes from their seven weeks here.

I managed to take a place on the bench next to Blaine. We were surrounded by our campers, so there was no real way to show affection, but I'll admit that I spent as much of the time watching his reactions as I did watching the stage. As we stood, walking quietly towards the dining hall, Blaine leaned close to whisper to me, "Where are we going now?"

"Our tables for the week. You'll walk right to your seat and get paper there. I need to get an envelope first." I looked ahead to the lights of the dining hall against the backdrop of tree shadows and stars. "Each year, we write ourselves a letter. They get saved up in envelopes and kept here. The first year you can't return, they mail all your letters to you at the start of the summer. I have nine to start out reading, going all the way back to when I was eight."

"So this could take awhile," Blaine stated, looking around. "Especially for those of you who have been here forever. Does Schue have like thirty of them?"

I laughed softly. "Probably. And yeah, it kind of does. If you have extra time, you're free to write notes to other people. Hopefully the boys will be good sitting quietly for that long."

That was the last note of our conversation because we entered the doors of the dining hall and peeled off in separate directions. I collected the thick manila envelope with my name written on it in my own neat handwriting and walked silently towards my seat for the week.

I dumped the contents of the envelope out onto the table and started to read, ignoring Schue's explanation. I knew well enough what to do. I started with the earliest letters and smiled, remembering the casual enthusiasm of being that age. Undercurrents of grief had filled my life that first year, but they weren't reflected in the letter. I was too young to spend much time on insight.

The tone of the letters changed as I grew up. I could tell where going home to elementary school changed to going home to seventh grade. The summer before, I'd had no idea what awaited me in middle school. It was clear in that letter that now I knew.

_I wish I could stay here forever. How is that here I can be myself and not get called names? No one has hit me or pushed me all summer. Even when we fight, they aren't cruel.  I don't want to go back. I just want to live here, with these people, all year long._

That bit of the letter could fit me as well today as it had when I was twelve. From that point on, the letters were less full of childlike joy and more reflective.

I read through the one from when I was fourteen, admitting on paper the crush I'd been fighting having on Sam all summer, a full year before I came out.

My letter from when I was fifteen was triumphant. I'd done it. I'd come out. I'd been Color War captain. I'd been able to fully be myself and be a leader in the camp. I'd recounted seeing the younger boys looking at me like I'd looked at the older campers when I was their age. As if they were the coolest people in the world. People I someday wanted to grow up to be like.

I smiled when I read the phrase I'd ended it with. _This is the best summer I've ever had in my life. I want to remember all of this forever._ At the time, that had been true. Now, it gave me the opening for my letter this year. I skimmed quickly through my letter from CIT summer, reading about working with the seniors and the trip to Quebec City. Finally, I was ready to write this summer's letter. I reached out to grab a piece of paper and a pen from the center of the table and tuned out everyone around me in favor of focusing on writing a new letter to join the collection.

_August 11, 2011_

_Dear future self,_

_When I was fifteen, I wrote that I'd had the best summer of my life. That might have been true at the time, but it's not anymore. I can without a doubt write that this is the best summer I've ever had. I may look back on this someday and disagree again, but I don't think that could be a bad thing. Any summer that tops this one will have to be pretty wonderful._

_I don't know where my future lies with Blaine, but I know that I'm enjoying the present. Maybe we'll end up being one of those rare sets of high school sweethearts that stay together forever, but even if we're not, I'll be grateful for the relationship. Blaine will always be my first boyfriend, and I hope he'll always hold a place as one of my best friends, no matter what._

_This summer has been in part the wonder of watching Blaine heal. There's almost no compare between the confident, silly, and, most importantly, happy guy I see today and the skittish, fearful Blaine that started the summer here. I may have been first attracted to that wounded look in his lovely eyes, but I enjoy him this way so much more. I can't wait to see how he blooms next year._

_Technically, this is my last summer as a camper, but it doesn't feel like it. At some point this summer, I stopped feeling like a camper altogether. I keep trying to figure out when, but I can't. Maybe when I moved into Cabin 3 with Rory and Finn. Maybe when I went on my first out of camp kayaking trip with Joe. Whenever it was, I like it. I feel like I'm here not just for me anymore, but for all the people that rely on me. For my campers and the kids in my activity area. That sounds really smug as I'm writing it._

_Anyway, this summer has been wonderful. I think that going through it with Blaine and seeing his expressions at experiencing everything for the first time has made a lot of familiar traditions feel new all over again._

I continued my writing for a few more paragraphs before signing my name at the end with a flourish. I carefully folded the letter, writing the year on the outside, and then tucked them all back in my manila envelope. As I glanced around the room, I could see that the last few people were finishing writing. My eyes went to all the boys from my cabin. I had to laugh when I saw that even Liam and Seth were starting to squirm in their seats. I felt for the poor counselor trying to keep Jared seated and quiet.

Thad and David stood up then, leaving the table they'd been sharing with the other ULs and moving toward the door. That was the signal I'd been waiting for. I whispered to the kids at my table who were finished, shepherding them toward the exit. Letters were deposited back into a box there, and each of us collected a candle from one of the Unit Leaders as we walked past. David rested a hand on my shoulder as I took a candle from him. "Remember, I'm calling dibs on you for next summer, so you'd better be here."

I nodded back silently, flashing a smile over to David even as I tried to hold in tears. Reading all the letters had brought them close to the surface, anyway. Stepping out of the dining hall door, I walked toward Wes, leaning down to light my candle off of his. He flashed me a smile, which I returned, but no words needed to be said there. Candle lit, I led a group of younger campers off toward the junior cabins, taking a place to stand on the porch of Cabin 3.

As people trickled out of the dining hall, the sight became more and more beautiful. Campers and staff stood on each of their cabin porches, ringing the grassy quad with light.

I would like to say it was peaceful, but that was probably only true for counselors with older campers. For us, it was more the task of keeping anyone from lighting a cabinmate on fire. Or Jared from lighting up the whole porch with his wildly swinging candle. It was a relief when the sounds of soft singing started to carry from the oldest campers around the ring and down toward the younger ones.

I took up the melody when it reached me, singing softly, " _Each candle lights anew the flame of friendship true, the joy I've had in knowing you will last the whole year through_. " The words felt ever so true in those moments. This was what I was trusting to get me through the school year, no matter how bad it might get. Tradition. Friendship. The promise of next summer.

As Cabin 1 finished their way through the melody, they blew out their candles. The song faded out slowly as each cabin of people extinguished their candles and stopped singing. Being in Cabin 3, our chance came quickly. Maybe that was by design. A way to have the youngest campers holding lit candles for the shortest amount of time.

Finally, only the oldest campers were left singing, faintly going through a full verse of the song before they blew out their candles. I glanced over to Blaine, moving to stand close to his side so that I could whisper, "Pretty, isn't it? This one of my favorite traditions of the summer. Too bad we only get it when the time's almost done."

 

* * *

 

 

Friday was caught up in a rush of packing and cleaning. Schue had this whole packing list that he'd gotten from his mother. I swear that every other step on it was sweeping. The floor of our cabin had never looked as good as it did by the time we got freshly scrubbed boys changed for the banquet that night.

The banquet was a calm enough affair. Each cabin ate together for it, with the staff serving. At the end, we sat for quite a while as awards and trophies were given out in each activity area. That part had been much more entertaining back when I'd been a camper and had the chance to earn some.

At last, it was time to slip out of the dining hall for the last time the whole camp would be together. Buses would start to pull out of camp at 8:00 the next morning, so breakfast would be a grab and go affair. I still couldn't believe that it was all coming to a close.

Our next stop was the campfire ring. This was camp. Every summer had to end in that spot. It was like a written rule of camps everywhere that there should be a closing campfire. Ours was traditionally almost all songs. I patted my pocket for the tissues I knew I'd stashed there, and then settled on a long log with our campers. I'd ended up lucking out and getting to sit on the end with Blaine next to me. I was almost to the point of falling off, really, so sitting that close to Blaine was only necessary, you see.

Blaine nudged me gently and nodded down to his other side. I glanced over and couldn't resist a soft smile. Seth was leaning against Blaine, his head resting on the soft fabric of Blaine's t-shirt sleeve.

My chance to press up against Blaine's side was short lived. After a few opening words and a talk about how wonderful this summer had been, Schue called Blaine up to get his guitar. Blaine gave me a quick, regretful look, then made his way to the front of the group, taking a seat on a stump there and lifting his guitar out of its case.

We started with a few classics like _Linger_ and _Leaving on a Jet Plane._ Then Schue got up again, holding a large, brass goblet. He asked us to toss in wishes for the year away from camp. It was a silly tradition, but I thought seriously about them anyway. I wished that the kids at school would just ignore me this year. I wished that my relationship with Blaine would only grow stronger when we got back to Ohio. I reached up to my head and mimed pulling them out and tossing them into the goblet, just like everyone around me, no matter what their age.

When Schue had collected them all, he turned to face the fire. "As these wishes burn in the flame of our last night together, let them go up into the air and travel across this country. Let the magic we feel in this place help our wishes and dreams to come true." Then he tossed the contents of the cup into the fire. A tall column of flame rose and then died down with a whoosh. Even though I knew now that it was the reaction of sugar being thrown into the fire, I still felt the same rush of awe that I had when I'd been Liam's age.

Finn stood up next making his way up to the front. He nodded over toward Blaine letting the younger man speak.

Blaine licked his lips, hesitating for a moment before he spoke up. "I asked Finn to help me with a song, and Schue approved it. I just wanted to play something for you all to say thank you. You have all been so great in welcoming me this summer and really making me feel like part of the group, even when I wasn't sure I could be. So this is for all of you, new friends and new brothers. Who knew this is what would be waiting for me?"

As soon as he started up the first chords on his guitar, I knew exactly what song it would be. I couldn't keep a smile off my face. This was a good surprise, though I wondered when they'd had time to practice. This song had always reminded me of camp, no matter where I heard it.

Finn started the song off, singing out over Blaine's guitar:

_Another turning point,_

_A fork stuck in the road,_

_Time grabs you by the wrist,_

_Directs you where to go._

Even though it was Finn singing those words, I was still struck by the part about time grabbing you by the wrist. It might be a bad comparison, but it brought to mind the bright red cast and the cruelly broken wrist that had led Blaine here in the first place. Blaine picked up the lyrics next, reminding me of how much I love his voice.

_So make the best of this test,_

_And don't ask why,_

_It's not a question,_

_But a lesson learned in time._

As they got to the chorus, they joined their voices together. I'll admit to being rather surprised about just how well their voices blended.

_It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right._

_I hope you had the time of your life._

I listened to the rest of the song, entranced by the change in Blaine's expression over the course of this. I'd been proud of him for just being open enough to sing in front of the whole camp in the first place. I was pretty sure the only solos he'd sung so far this summer had been in Cabin 3.

He'd opened the song looking down at his guitar. But by the middle of it, his head was up, and he was practically basking in all the attention given to him. The smile Blaine had as the whole camp burst into applause at the end of the song was practically wide enough to split his face open.

The campfire slowly wound down from there, leading into slower and slower songs. Blaine was given a break from playing on a few of them, and returned to my side each time. Finally, Schue made eye contact, nodding him up one last time. Blaine took his seat again on the stump we should pretty well carve his name onto. Schue lifted a tiki torch again, turning back to the same wire frame he'd used for color war just two nights before.

"As this camp year comes to a close, let us hold what we have learned and the friendships we have made here close to our hearts as we go back out into the wider world," Schue said, looking out over all the assembled campers. "Let us put 2011 to a close and begin to look forward to 2012." He turned around, and lit the wire frame. Instead of the name of a color war team, this time burning on the frame was simply 2011. "And to finish the evening with one last song, this is my wish for all of you." He nodded over towards Blaine to start the song, coming in at the appropriate spot:

_May the good Lord be with you,_

_Down every road you roam,_

_And may sunshine and happiness,_

_Surround you when you're far from home._

_And may you grow to be proud, dignified and true._

_And do unto others and you'd have done to you._

_Be courageous, and be brave_

_And in my heart, you'll always stay,_

_Forever young, forever young_

_Forever young, forever young_

* * *

 

The cabin looked so different as we settled the boys down for an attempt at sleep that night. All the boys belongings were packed away in duffel bags and trunks, stacked at the front of the cabin. We'd let the boys push all their cots together in the middle of the open space for the night. The sleeping bags that they usually used for campouts were spread out over them, all their heads towards the center. It was the last night of camp. They were welcome to stay up late and whisper and giggle, so long as they didn't get crazy. Who cared if we gave them back to their parents all worn out?

Finn was the last one to slip back into the counselor area of the cabin. I'd long ago given Blaine a quick side hug goodbye. If it was anything like last year, the CITs would be having a great time most of the night in their cabin. I wondered how many times Wes would have to go into their room and tell them to get some sleep before they'd finally comply.

I slid the my summer reading books into the duffle bag with my towels and bedding, hoping it wouldn't be over the weight limit. I only saved behind the last one to settle into the backpack I was taking on the plane with me. "Do you have your travel plans all figured out, Rory?" I asked over, settling cross legged on my cot to check out the contents of my backpack. It'd be awful to accidentally put my pocket knife in there or something.

"Aye. I think so. Schue is letting four of us internationals take care of the bus group to New York City tomorrow. We're staying in a hostel there for a few nights to sightsee and then going down to Washington, D.C. From there, we'll see how much money we have left," Rory admitted, rolling tightly the t-shirts he was stuffing down into a large, backpacking bag. All his linens and his trunk belonged to the camp. He'd already turned them in earlier today. That felt so final.

"Well, if you ever end up in Ohio, you can come crash on my couch," I offered, sure my father would agree in that unlikely circumstance.

"I doubt I will, but thank you for the offer." Rory grinned over. "I'm excited to see more of the country. Maybe next year."

I nodded, standing to cross the room and collect my phone from where I'd been charging it. After a whole summer without a cell phone, it was going to be odd to get off a plane tomorrow and go back to sending constant texts. "I think we should make a pact that all three of us will be back here at least one more year."

"I agree," Finn spoke up, unrolling his sleeping bag across his cot, one of his last things to pack. "Same place, same time. Plus, you never know when I might end up randomly in Ohio needing a place to stay." He added that last part on jokingly.

"I'll let Blaine know. I bet you could sleep on his couch," I teased right back, sliding my phone into the front pocket of my bag.

Rory rolled his eyes at the two of us. "Giant children," he muttered, joining the joke for a moment before he nodded more seriously. "I hope I'll be able to. I certainly plan to make it happen."

"Perfect. Alright. Some of us have to be up super early to leave on the first bus out. We can get all weepy in the morning. Right?" I ignored any mutters or eyes rolled at me as I slunk down into my own sleeping bag, pulling it up over my head to block out their light and quiet conversation.

 

* * *

 

 

As the airplane rolled to a stop at the gate, I nudged Blaine softly. Halfway through our second flight, he'd fallen asleep on my shoulder. It was much too cute to wake him up before necessary. Now however, I didn't want to be stuck on the flight forever.

Blaine and I had been lucky enough that our flights still had a bit of extra space. As long as one of us was willing to sit in the middle seat, we got seats next to each other on both legs of our trip. I'd been correct about Blaine staying up most of the night with the CITs. He'd been trying to hide yawns all day until he'd finally given in to sleep on this last leg.

Well, he'd been busy hiding yawns and passing me Kleenex. I do have to admit to some tears as I hugged everyone goodbye at camp. The waterworks started when Mike whispered to me that I could still call him whenever I needed to vent to someone who cared. It didn't stop until a good twenty minutes into the bus ride towards Manchester.

The bus had dropped all the people flying off at the airport and continued on toward Boston. The tears had started again in a smaller way when Sam boarded his flight, off toward California. Thank goodness I didn't have to say goodbye to Blaine until Columbus, and then only until the next time one of us could drive off to meet the other.

If Blaine sleeping had been cute, Blaine waking slowly up and rubbing his eyes blearily was downright adorable. I tried to hide a grin as he muttered, "Is it morning?"

"Close enough. We're at the gate in Columbus. Home, morning. Same thing?" I teased lightly, following Blaine out into the crowded aisle.

"Sure." Blaine still didn't sound fully awake, but he pulled his backpack out of the overhead bin and started out of the plane.

He'd finally woken up enough for us to be chatting about articles in the new issue of Vogue I'd read on the flight as we walked through exit from the secure area, passing the line to get through the security checkpoint. I scanned the people there quickly and then left Blaine behind for a moment as I spotted a familiar face.

"Dad!" I reached out to get pulled into a tight hug. My dad held me tight for a moment before he pushed me to arms length looking me up and down.

"Still in one piece," Dad commented to my laugh. "This summer treat you well?"

"It was great. Wonderful. Amazing." I couldn't keep the grin off my face now. As hard as it had been to leave everyone at camp, being back with my dad was something I'd missed. "There's someone I'd like you to meet." I grabbed his hand pulling him toward where I'd left Blaine standing. "Dad, this is Blaine. I wrote to you about him, remember? Blaine, this is my dad, Burt."

Blaine held his hand out politely. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hummel."

"Please, it's just Burt." My dad gave Blaine a quick glance over, too. "It's nice to meet you. I certainly remember, since I'd swear that's the only thing that was in any of your letters this year, kid."

I flushed with a bit of embarrassment then realized. "Blaine? Are your parents here?"

"They're probably waiting down at the baggage claim. If not, I'll give my mom a call." Blaine shifted nervously for a moment.

"Well, why don't we go down and see how much Kurt's luggage has multiplied this summer, and we'll see if we can find them, then?" My father must have noticed that nervousness, covering for it quickly.

"It did not multiply." I huffed with good humor. "Well, maybe an issue or two of magazines more. Airplane reading." I started off down toward the luggage area, glad the airline had been quick. The buzzer for our carousel sounded just as we arrived.

Blaine's parents were no where to be seen when we got there, but by the time we'd made a shared pile of our luggage, Mrs. Anderson was walking over, pushing one of the yellow luggage carts. "Blaine. There you are. You already have your bags?"

Blaine moved to give his mother a quick hug. "I do. You remember, Kurt, right?" he asked as he stepped back. "And this is his father, Mr. Hummel."

As our parents exchanged pleasantries, I helped Blaine load his luggage onto the cart. Then I pulled him in for a tight hug. He held me close for longer than was socially acceptable, in Lima at least. Maybe it could pass in Columbus. "I guess this is goodbye," he whispered.

"Never," I whispered back. "This is just I'll see you in a couple of weeks. I'm never, ever saying goodbye to you."

Blaine pulled back to give me a watery smile. "I like the sound of that. You have my number? Text me when you get home."

I nodded. "And probably half the way home, too." I wiped at my eyes. "It's a long drive." And I was not going to start up crying again.

Blaine simply nodded his head quietly, turning back to look at me as his mother led him out toward their car.

"So, found a boyfriend this summer?" my father asked, watching me closely.

"I did. One who only lives two hours drive away, even. What were the odds?" I bent down, digging wheels out of my bag to snap them into the right place on my trunk.

"Good." I was glad for my father's approval as we each started to wheel a big piece of luggage each toward the car. "Just don't put too many miles on your Navigator."

"Yes, father." I rolled my eyes, making sure that I was the one lifting each heavy item into the back of my dad's pickup.

It wasn't until I was sitting in the passenger seat on the road back towards Lima that it all hit me. I leaned my head against the cooler glass of the window, letting out a long breath. Summer was over. It was time to face another year. At least this year I wouldn't be facing it alone.


	17. Chapter 17

I looked up from the pile of glossy college brochures in front of me to grin as the door to the Lima Bean opened only to drop the smile again when it was just a random woman pushing a stroller. School had started the Monday before, but now, finally, I was free for the weekend. Not only that, but Dad agreed to having Blaine come over for the whole thing, as long as we both got our homework done.

Blaine and I had talked and texted almost constantly since the end of camp, but this would be our first chance to actually see each other. To say that I was looking forward to it was an understatement. A big understatement.

The door opened again, and this time my smile wasn't preemptive. Blaine was making his way inside, glancing around hesitantly. I could tell the minute he spotted me, because his face lit up.

When he got over to me, I grinned up, reaching to tug at the lapel of his blazer. "Look at you. Fancy private school boy."

Blaine laughed with a blush. "Gee, shucks," he joked before adding, "Is the uniform more offensive to your sense of fashion than some of the camp outfits?"

I shook my head with an amused smile. "Definitely not. This could never be worse than a ratty t-shirt and basketball shorts hanging so low they show off boxers." I paused to give him a longer look over, from the blazer and tie to the way he'd returned to gelling down his hair. "It would be better if you'd let me tailor this for you. It's a good look on you, though. You can pull off the dapper gentleman thing quite well."

"Well, thank you? I think." Blaine glanced down at the table. "Let me get a cup of coffee, and I'll join you? And maybe someday I'll give you the privilege of altering my uniform."

I nodded over. "Go. Get a drink. I'll be waiting right here. Or maybe I'll run out now that I've seen the horror of your polyester uniform," I teased.

He laughed lightly before he made his way over toward the line. I tried to occupy myself with the college information, but really, I was spending my time trying not to let Blaine see that I was watching him. It felt like a worthwhile pastime for late Friday afternoon.

The line wasn't long this time of day, so Blaine was back over at the table fairly quickly, settling down into a seat across from me. "What are you reading?" he asked curiously, sipping at his cardboard cup.

"College brochures." I spread them out in front of me for him to see. "I've started to plan for next year to keep me sane." That got a burst of laughter.

"Parsons. FIT. Making serious on those plans to go into fashion?" Blaine asked looking them over.

I nodded. "I think so. I might decide against being  a designer personally in the end, but there are other careers I'd love that it could lead to as well. Like being a stylist or a fashion columnist."

Blaine looked me over, taking in the tightly cut jeans I'd pared with a waistcoat, knee high boots, and a broach in the shape of a hummingbird. "Forgive me for not saying it earlier, but you look wonderful. This career choice is so much more obvious in your not-camp apparel." He reached out and touched one more. "Kent State?"

"Still not sure about that one," I admitted. "They're supposed to have a great fashion program, randomly enough, but I'm really not sure I want to stay in Ohio, unless needing instate tuition makes it necessary. My guidance counselor practically forced the brochure on me, so I gave in and at least added it to the pile."

Blaine nodded understandingly. "As much as I'd like to selfishly suggest you stay somewhere nearby for another year, I won't. I'd rather you be happy. You might want to go visit though. See how much it is or isn't like Lima."

"I might. I haven't ruled it out yet. I'm not sure where I'll get in for one thing. It'd be silly to only apply to one college. Maybe I will visit." I reached out to practically pet the brochure for FIT as I stacked them all back up together. "I'm going to go stay with Mike next month and visit a few colleges in the New York City area. I'm excited for that on three fronts: visiting colleges, seeing Mike and New York, and getting out of a couple of days of school here."

"How has that been going so far, really?" Blaine asked looking me in the eye. "Not just the 'it's fine' you text me."

"It isn't any different than any other year so far. No better, no worse," I said, reaching up to rub unconsciously at a sore spot on the back of my shoulder where I'd been slammed into the corner of the hallway wall earlier that day. "I'll get through it. Five days down. One hundred, seventy-five left to go."

"You've started a countdown already?" Blaine asked, chuckling at the 'of course I did' look I gave him. "I brought a tube of arnica. For your bruises."

It felt rather odd to have the tables turned there. Wasn't I supposed to be the one taking care of him? It was odd, but nice. If we were going to survive as a relationship, that couldn't be one sided. We'd have to take care of each other. "Thank you. I may need help getting to some of them, though." I didn't even quite think through the relevance of that until I saw Blaine gulp and nod.

"I suppose I could offer a helping hand there," he admitted with a blush.

"We'll just have to make up a good excuse, if my dad walks in," I said then shook my head. "Never mind. I'll make sure he doesn't. There are things he doesn't know, Blaine. I mean, he knows school can be rough for me, but he doesn't know how bad, and I don't want him to."

Blaine nodded slowly, considering that for a moment before he spoke. "I think he'd want to know, but it isn't my place to tell him. I'll keep quiet."

I looked over thankfully to him. "His health hasn't always been the best. He doesn't need one more thing to worry about." That seemed like a good time to change the subject. "Speaking of schools, how has your first week been at your fancy new one?"

Blaine glanced down to his blazer then smiled over. "Great. Sometimes I feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but my time at camp gave me enough confidence that there are actually decent groups of guys in the world to be more open to the fact that this might be another good place." I nodded, letting Blaine continue on. "The classes are harder, but I like that. It's nice to sit in a room with other people who actually want to challenge themselves and learn."

"I'm so glad for you," I said earnestly. "I only wish your parents had made the change earlier."

"Me, too," Blaine agreed. "But then, if things didn't happen the way they did, I wouldn't know just how strong I can be. And I wouldn't know you."

I reached out to rest my hand on top of his. "Maybe we would have met someday anyway. I can't imagine going through my whole life never knowing you."

"Destiny?" Blaine broke the serious mood by joking before he added, "So, this weekend, I was hoping you could help me get something ready." I raised my eyebrows curiously, and he took that as a sign to keep going. "There's an acapella singing group at my new school. Auditions are next week. I'm working up the nerve to try out. Getting in would be great. It would give me an instant connection to a group of people. Make me something more than just about the only new junior in school."

"Camp should have given you experience of feeling that way, too, huh?" I teased lightly before I nodded. "Of course I'll help. Acapella? So you can't even accompany yourself with your guitar?"

Blaine shook his head. "No. It makes the song choice that much harder, I think. It has to be something more difficult to get off key on."

I laughed at that then picked up my cup and my brochures. "Well then, we'd better go get busy. I mean, start on that!" I covered, even if I had every chance of making up for not being able to kiss him here as soon as we were alone. "Follow me home?"

"Does that make me your little lost puppy?" Blaine asked as he stood, grabbing his cup as well. "I'll follow wherever you go. Lead on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It feels very accomplished but a bit bittersweet to flip the tag on this over to completed. My first full, completed piece of fanfiction! This story is done, but I do have a few tag along ideas to it. I think that after it has some space, and I complete some of the pieces, I'll be posting a few one shots in this world. There are definitely the seeds of some there.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for sticking with this until the end.


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